Rangers 2-2 Aberdeen gubbins: Scott Brown stars in defence then gets rushed up the tunnel at full-time

Aberdeen captain Scott Brown celebrates after his team's 2-2 draw against Rangers at Ibrox. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Player of the match

Scott Brown has always relished the role of pantomime villain in the eyes of the Rangers fans and the former Celtic captain savoured his return to Ibrox as an Aberdeen player.

The 36-year-old was outstanding at the heart of a reshaped defence for the injury-hit Dons and scored a magnificent header to put his team 2-0 ahead in 16 minutes after Christian Ramirez’s ninth minute opener.

Biggest letdown

From a Rangers perspective, it was clearly their failure to mark the evening when they paid tribute to Walter Smith with a victory in front of a crowd of 49,760 inside Ibrox.

Ref watch

John Beaton made two huge calls which incensed Aberdeen and played a crucial part in Rangers’ recovery from 2-0 down.

Lewis Ferguson was convinced he won the ball with a challenge on Joe Aribo which produced the free-kick from which Alfredo Morelos halved the deficit, while the penalty award when David Bates was judged to have fouled Fashion Sakala was highly contentious.

Turning point

If Aberdeen had held onto their 2-0 advantage for longer, they may well have headed home with all three points. But it lasted just four minutes with Morelos’ seventh goal of the season providing the platform for Rangers’ recovery.

Gave us a giggle

It was a generally sombre occasion after the death of Smith on Tuesday. But even the former Rangers manager might have had a wry smile at Scott Brown’s wide-eyed response to fourth official Andrew Dallas’ needlessly officious efforts to hurry him up the tunnel at full-time.

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