FOR TYNIE TURN
Alnwick the wrong way from 12 yards and in the process Aberdeen discovered an industry and aggression that had been missing in the early exchanges.
In truth, it was all a little frantic and raw meat as vendettas began to build and the man in the middle struggled to keep a lid on it all, booking David Bates, Sam Cosgrove and Dorrans.
The Dons had established their dominance, particularly in midfield, although Rangers weren’t helped when Dorrans limped off in 32 minutes to be replaced by Sean Goss.
McLean almost volleyed the Dons two up five minutes from half-time as Rangers struggled to clear a corner only for Alnwick to save smartly to his right with his defence all over the place.
The Light Blues had no match for the tempo being set by Aberdeen, whose passing was crisper, more creative and laced with menace.
Rangers, having lost the battle for supremacy in the middle of the park, resorted to illegal means to stop the red tide as Andy Halliday and Jason Holt also went into the book.
The pair and their teammates breathed a sigh of relief at only going in a goal down and unsurprisingly, after their first-half efforts, Aberdeen struggled to maintain their intensity. Rangers were also much improved as they finally found cool heads to pick passes through their midfield rather than knocking it long and looking to take their luck with the percentages. Tavernier grew more influential down the right and floated over a cross behind O’Connor inch perfect for Morelos. The striker made a decent enough connection at the back post but without much direction as it flew into Lewis’s arms. Rangers interim boss Jimmy Nicholl went for broke with the introduction of Jason Cummings after an hour and it paid off within three minutes when his side grabbed an equaliser out of nothing.
A shot from Morelos at the edge of the box was blocked by Scott McKenna but as the ball looped into the air the Aberdeen defence was slow to react.
McCrorie refused to stand on ceremony and rose unchallenged to nod into the corner of the net with Lewis helpless for once.
Morelos dispossessed Graeme Shinnie minutes later and was played in on the return pass by Murphy. But McKenna moved quicker this time to block his effort as Lewis dived to save.
Pittodrie, a pit of noise in the first half, fell into an uneasy silence as the majority of the 17,745 crowd struggled to comprehend the turnaround in fortunes.
Meanwhile, 2,017 visiting fans lapped up the renewed vigour being shown by their side as they now look to Hearts to noise up their neighbours tonight.