Crystal ballwatchers
Caixinha named Dons line-up – but late Reds’ collapse came right out of the blue
PEDRO CAIXINHA might have predicted Derek McInnes’s starting line-up but not even he could have seen what was coming in the final 11 minutes at Pittodrie.
Rangers reduced the deficit to nine points in the race for runner-up but it was the manner in which they did so that had the 19,332 crowd shoehorned inside stunned.
Caixinha’s team had been pinned inside their own half for most of the second period in a game that had gone flat after a firecracker start.
But with Aberdeen pushing hard for their 11th home win on the spin – which would have equalled Alex Ferguson’s 1983-84 streak – Rangers sprung out to score a stunner through Kenny Miller. Then another. And another. McInnes’s side, who had not conceded a goal in five matches, lost three in four minutes from the 79th onwards and on Kevin Clancy’s final whistle looked a desolate, disbelieving bunch.
The Reds are still in pole position to finish second but this result – coming to this fortress and doing what Rangers did – will inject Caixinha’s team with massive belief in their manager as they head into the business end of the season.
The Portuguese coach was pragmatic in the way he set out his team and as the second half progressed they were prepared to concede space and possession to remain compact – changed days from the previous regime.
With Shay Logan bombing forward Caixinha introduced Joe Dodoo on the left wing and the sub exploited the space in behind to change the game.
The 21-year-old made a goal, scored another and crashed a shot off the bar. More importantly, it showed he had a boss who could think on his feet and make influential calls from the sidelines.
It took only three minutes for the match to explode and give Clancy a major problem before he’d broken a sweat.
Dons captain Ryan Jack went in late on Joe Garner and when the Englishman reacted the players went chest to chest before going head to head.
Garner went down as if poleaxed but Clancy wasn’t buying it and sorted it with a pair of yellow cards. Replays showed he got it right because Garner’s reaction to a minimal coming together of their heads was ridiculous.
That flashpoint sparked a blistering spell by the Dons who pressed Rangers back, forcing Wes Foderingham into a decent save at his near post after Jonny Hayes burst past David Bates to shoot.
Yet the clearest chance early on fell to the visitors when Martyn Waghorn broke away to fire an effort from the edge of the box that spun off a defender into Garner’s path. The Ibrox striker pulled the trigger but Ash Taylor threw himself into a brilliant block.
The two combined again in the 20th minute with Garner finding Waghorn only for his volley on the stretch to fly over. Taylor was next in the book for a challenge on Jason Holt that, in keeping with everything else, was ferocious.
Meanwhile, Garner had continued his ding-dong with Jack and looked like a red card waiting to happen.
When he went in late on Dons keeper Joe Lewis it seemed a dismissal was coming but Clancy took no action.
Caixinha had a call to make and it was a tough one. Rangers were causing the Dons problems with Garner at the heart of it, although he’d be no good to them sitting in the dressing room.
It settled into an even contest as the break approached but Graeme Shinnie was left cursing Niall McGinn who swiped a chance off his toe as he looked to finish off a Kenny McLean cutback.
The Northern Irishman clearly didn’t see his team-mate arriving late and took on the chance from a more difficult angle, failing to hit the target.
The second period was played out in pedestrian fashion until Hayes left Danny Wilson and Myles Beerman in his wake down the wing six minutes in before setting up a chance that ended with Foderingham saving from Shinnie.
Caixinha made a switch – removing
Emerson Hyndman and throwing on Josh Windass – but the home side were enjoying the better of it as the hour approached with Foderingham having to make a smart stop from McLean.
Adam Rooney should’ve scored after Anthony O’Connor caught Waghorn napping but the normally lethal frontman fired tamely at Foderingham.
Rooney did far better on the hour, stretching to hit a volley that brought out a superb one-handed stop.
Rangers were camped in and inviting pressure and trouble. Their first-half fizz had gone flat and Aberdeen were throwing everything at them.
One moron in the Rangers support decided to throw something back – it looked like a paper cup – at McGinn as he took a corner. Like almost everything else it missed the target.
Garner was finally withdrawn for Dodoo in the 70th minute and it looked like Rangers would settle for a point.
But this fixture always seems to have a sting in the tail and what happened in the last 11 minutes defied belief.
Not that Rangers scored but that they scored three times between the 79th and 83rd minutes. Stand-in skipper Miller, as usual, was instrumental.
His first finish was sensational, hammering the ball high past Lewis from a tight angle after the keeper had pulled off a terrific save from Waghorn.
Aberdeen were still feeling sorry for themselves when Miller – now playing through the middle after Waghorn’s withdrawal for Andy Halliday – slotted past Lewis after being found by Dodoo.
And with the home fans heading for the exits Dodoo got in on the act as he cut in from the left and gave Lewis the eyes before finishing at his near post.
The sub cracked the bar in injury time while Miller was denied a hattrick with a follow-up header that Andy Considine hooked off the line.
It didn’t matter. There was delight in one part of Pittodrie and disbelief throughout the rest. Practically the only people inside the ground by the end were Rangers fans and for the first time Caixinha’s name was being belted out.
Even he probably couldn’t believe what had just happened. But he’ll take it.