GERRARD’S UNDONE IN FERGIE TIME

GUTTED Steven Gerrard last night shouldered the blame for Rangers’ Betfred Cup exit – and insisted his shot-shy players deserved exactly what they got at Hampden.

Lewis Ferguson – son of former Ibrox midfielder Derek and nephew of Barry – was the Dons hero when his headed goal secured a final spot with Celtic.

Ibrox boss Gerrard (right) was brutally honest in his appraisal of his team’s 1-0 semi final defeat and admitted they sorely missed strikers Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.

Gerrard decided to throw in loan misfit Umar Sadiq for his first start and the Nigerian was booked late in the game for diving when he looked to have rounded Dons keeper Joe Lewis.

Asked if Sadiq could have carried on and scored, Gerrard said: “100 per cent. To be fair to Umar, in the last two or three weeks he had shown signs of improvement.

“Whether it’s enough, we’ll have to judge that moving forward.

“His performance up until the final bit today was OK. We can’t point fingers and blame Umar. What I would say to him is if you go around the keeper, stand up and put the ball in the net. Don’t dive or you are going to get a yellow card.

“It’s very tough to take. This one will hurt for a while. Semi-finals are the stage where you want to get over the line and reach a final. “It’s Aberdeen’s day, we wish them well.

“They deserve to go through because they created that bit of magic in the business end of the box and punished us on a set piece. We got what we deserved.”

Aberdeen manager Derek Mcinnes last night hailed matchwinner Ferguson as his “dream player” after the kid bulleted Aberdeen into the Betfred Cup Final.

Mcinnes was thrilled with his team’s doggedness as they restricted Rangers to few clear-cut chances before delivering the killer blow through a 19-year-old he believes will go to the very top.

He said: “Lewis is a dream of a boy, I absolutely trust him with anything I ask him to do.

“Whether it’s screening a back four or playing against Burnley and getting in the box and supporting.

“He is one of those who is just a natural footballer. He was born to play at Hampden, born to play games here. He is going to have a fantastic career.”

Aberdeen 1 Rangers 0