'I probably owe him one': Michael Beale reveals Rangers score he has to settle against Aberdeen boss

Conor McCarthy scores to make it 3-2 St Mirren during a Betfred Cup quarter final match between St Mirren and Rangers at the SMISA Stadium, on December 16, 2020.

The Englishman reveals that one painful experience comes to mind when he thinks of facing a side helmed by Jim Goodwin, now in charge of Aberdeen. It takes the form of Goodwin’s St Mirren knocking the Ibrox side out of the League Cup exactly two years ago this week. The 3-2 quarter-final loss arrived just when the league storming Ibrox side, in which Beale was the coaching sounding board for Steven Gerrard, were being tipped to snare a treble.

“I probably owe him one for that cup game when he was at St Mirren,” said Beale, who believes the Irishman has Aberdeen moving in the right direction. “That hurt us badly so whenever I see Jim that memory is always on my mind.”

More immediately on Goodwin’s mind surely will be winning back his support after they were left furious by his rope-a-dope tactics when going down at home an 87th minute Callum McGregor strike against Celtic on Saturday. Beale isn’t certain whether that will result in the Pittodrie men coming out punching against their great adversaries. They tried that last month at Ibrox only to be flattened 4-1, leaving the Aberdeen manager with plenty to ponder over his strategy in the second of three meetings across three months, and three venues.

“I’m sure Jim will be looking for a better performance from his players than the one they gave at Ibrox,” the Rangers manager said. “I listened to his interview after that because I was at that game, I know he was hugely disappointed so I think we will see a reaction. I know we have this [League Cup] semi-final coming up [in mid-January] too so there are a few key games between us. At the moment I am really focused on my squad [but] of course I have looked at Aberdeen. I watched their game at the weekend and all I can do is prepare us to go.”