Gers salvage draw after fiery cup clash
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JOE WORRALL insists Rangers won’t give up on their Premiership title dreams after salvaging their Scottish Cup ambitions at Pittodrie. Steven Gerrard’s side will be in the hat for the semi-final draw this evening thanks to Worrall’s equaliser early in the second half that earned a replay against Aberdeen. Rangers made the trip north knowing a defeat could well have ended their chances of lifting any silverware in Gerrard’s first campaign as boss, but they are still fighting on two fronts after a quarter-final stalemate. Worrall got on the end of Ryan Kent’s corner to score his first goal for Rangers and cancel out Sam Cosgrove’s early penalty as Rangers ensured the teams will do it all over again a week tomorrow. Now the Englishman hopes Gerrard’s side can kick on in the Premiership and start to make inroads into Celtic’s eight-point lead at the top of the table. Worrall said: “I didn’t really see [the cross for the goal]. I thought Connor Goldson was going to get it but thankfully I stuck a leg out. “It’s a massive goal. The gaffer said at half-time we needed a goal to save our season and stay in the cup. “Aberdeen is a tough place to come and they are a physical side but they have to come to our place now. “It is something I definitely need to improve on, getting more space in the opposition box. Hopefully they come along like buses and I get a few more. “I’m just happy we’re still in the cup and whoever got on the scoresheet didn’t matter. I’ve been asked many times about the incident at Kilmarnock but it is one of those things where people make mistakes. The manager has stuck by me and I’m pleased to have repaid that faith. “It is important we stay in this cup as long as we can and keep picking up wins and keep the momentum going. The league is not over, there are still games to come, we’ve to play Celtic and there are points to be won and lost.” Gerrard was full of praise for Worrall after the game as he tipped the on-loan Nottingham Forrest defender to go on and make a name for himself as a captain in the coming years. His performance was one of the positives for Gerrard to take from an entertaining cup tie as both teams had chances to win it in the second half. A draw was a fair result in the end and Gerrard had no complaints as Rangers emerged unscathed from their third Pittodrie outing of the campaign. He said: “Aberdeen edged the first 45 minutes but we were better in the second half. There was only the penalty between us and I asked the players for more in the second half and to be braver on the ball. Reflecting on the game it was a fair result. “Aberdeen showed our wide men huge respect. Dominic Ball and Max Lowe followed them right across the pitch and it is a tactic they have used effectively before. In the second half I was much more pleased though. “Both teams could have won the tie. [Allan] McGregor made a save and [Scott] McKenna made a game-saving block from Alfredo [Morelos]. [Andrew] Considine was lucky not to give away a penalty too for handball but all in all a draw was a fair result. “It’s nice to be talking about the game and chances rather than who is getting cited or suspended.”
ABERDEEN 1 RANGERS 1
THIS was the most important game of Rangers’ season and Steven Gerrard’s managerial career to date. It will have to be done all over again, though. The visitors returned from Pittodrie with their Scottish Cup dreams still alive and they will be in the hat for the semi-final draw on Monday evening. Their place in that round has still to be confirmed, however. Rangers required a replay to overcome Kilmarnock in the last eight and it will take a second crack at Derek McInnes’s side for them to move into the last four. Sam Cosgrove fired Aberdeen ahead early in the first half and Joe Worrall pulled Rangers level early in the second. In the end, a draw was probably a fair result, albeit a frustrating one for both managers. Gerrard had spoken in the build-up to the trip to Pittodrie about the importance of Rangers starting quickly and getting on the front foot. That approach had paid dividends in recent outings, but the visitors were well off it here early on. Rangers had wasted little time in putting Hamilton and Dundee to the sword on Premiership duty and Gerrard would have demanded his side burst out of the blocks. By the time they returned to the dressing room at the break, his messages would have been considerably harsher. His side hadn’t conceded a goal in their previous five outings but their chances of making that half a dozen were over inside 11 minutes. If that wasn’t bad enough for Gerrard, the damage was self-inflicted. Come the end of a woeful first 45 minutes, he would have been thankful his side still had a chance. It was bad, but it could have been worse for Rangers as they produced their worst half since the goalless draw with St Johnstone at Ibrox. It was Cosgrove’s penalty that gave Aberdeen the advantage at that stage. He had to wait some time to take it, but the delay didn’t put him off. The injury that Gary Mackay-Steven sustained in the build-up, the winger needlessly and cynically brought down by Connor Goldson, forced him off inside a quarter of an hour but he had already played his part by then as he had a hand in the opening goal. Keeper Allan McGregor went the right way and got a touch on Cosgrove’s effort, but it was too well placed and well struck. It was the perfect start for Aberdeen and one they looked more likely to add to than lose. A Scott McKenna header that was just over McGregor’s fingertips and the crossbar was the closest that they came to the second goal. Chances weren’t plentiful, but mistakes from Rangers were as Aberdeen caused angst in their defence and the away section at Pittodrie. Ryan Kent and Daniel Candeias both came close with shots across goal from their flanks but Gerrard’s side had little about them in an attacking sense. Alfredo Morelos was booked early on for going down too easily under pressure from Andrew Considine and the striker had nowhere near the influence he had in the first half on his last visit here. To be fair to the Colombian, he was starved of any real service. Rangers knocked the ball back and forth inside their own half but there was no urgency, no cutting edge to their play as they were outfought and outplayed. Aberdeen were sharper as they rose to the occasion and the real frustration for McInnes would have been that his side hadn’t been able to capitalise further on an uninspiring performance from Rangers. Within four minutes of the restart, that point was hammered home. A Kent corner was dangerous and beat everyone apart from Worrall, the defender peeling away at the back post and beating Joe Lewis with a neat finish. It was the defender’s first goal for Rangers, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Gerrard. At the second time of asking, he had the start he would have demanded. The goal sparked Rangers into life and they twice came close as Kent burst into the box and was denied. He was involved again minutes later, Rangers breaking well through Candeias and Scott Arfield’s chip was just too hit over Lewis. There wasn’t always a lot of quality from either side in possession, but it was an entertaining watch as Rangers scrambled the ball clear as McKenna glanced a header towards goal and Cosgrove was denied his second of the afternoon. Given what was at stake, it was no surprise there was an air of apprehension around Pittodrie as the clock ticked on. It briefly threatened to boil over when Graeme Shinnie went in hard on Arfield and was perhaps fortunate to only get a yellow card. At the other end, McGregor made a terrific stop to deny Considine before Borna Barisic blocked McKenna’s follow-up effort as Aberdeen once again came close. The game was there to be won for both, yet the respective camps knew the price of defeat and the closing stages were tense. In truth, both would probably have settled for a draw and the chance to do it all over again at that stage. That is exactly what will happen a week on Tuesday. A game that both managers desperately wanted to win ended in a stalemate that neither could really complain about.