A refereeing blunder cost Aberdeen victory against Rangers – but the Dons’ performance at Ibrox was hugely encouraging.
The Reds should have beaten the the Gers on Wednesday night, but John Beaton’s late penalty award allowed the home side to snatch a point.
As frustrating as that was, there are a lot of positives for the Red Army to take from the game.
After defeating Hibs, it was another encouraging display from the Dons, who caused their opponents problems.
Aberdeen got in the Gers’ faces, were hard to play against and deserved more from the game.
The Dons didn’t let the Premiership leaders dictate things and caused problems with their pressing.
Aberdeen scored two very good goals, the first of which – netted by Christian Ramirez – came as a result of putting Rangers under pressure in their own half.
Reds pay penalty
When it comes to the penalty, what are you meant to do when you’re on the wrong end of that decision?
It’s not a penalty – it’s a dive from Fashion Sakala.
The Rangers striker was trying to come around David Bates to get to the ball and throws himself to the ground.
It shouldn’t have been given and what’s particularly frustrating is that, by that stage of the game, Rangers weren’t causing the Reds many problems.
This is one of those occasions where it would be very beneficial if referees were allowed to speak to the media after games, because I think we’d all like to hear ref Beaton’s explanation as to why he gave a penalty.
There needs to be openness and transparency when it comes to decision-making.
Supporters deserve an explanation as to why an official has reached a decision, particularly on occasions like this when it’s frankly baffling why Beaton gave Rangers a penalty.
There have been calls for the introduction of VAR in Scottish football and what happened on Wednesday night at Ibrox shows exactly why it’s required.
That penalty award would surely have been overturned if there was the extra assistance for referees in this country.
Positives to take
Despite not leaving Govan with all three points, Aberdeen’s performance was very encouraging.
The last two matches have been much more like what we expect from the Dons.
Prior to that, during the 10-game winless run, there were disjointed displays.
But there has been a lot more cohesion in the performances against Hibs and Rangers.
Hearts are tomorrow’s opponents at Pittodrie and a similar performance will give the Reds a good chance of victory against the unbeaten Jambos.
Aberdeen have defended better in the last two games and when they’ve got forward the supply into the penalty box has been good.
Ramirez has scored in the last two fixtures and has now reached nine goals for the season.
It’s clear, if you give the American striker the service, he will score goals and hopefully that continues against Hearts.
Remembering Walter Smith
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Walter Smith aged 73 this week.
The former Rangers, Everton and Scotland manager was someone I spent some time with at various functions over the years and it was enjoyable to be in his company.
He was quite a quiet person, but when he spoke everyone listened.
Walter’s record as a club manager was very, very good and deserves to be respected.
Internationally with Scotland he helped rejuvenate the national team.
Walter was also one of those people who managed to transcend the Rangers and Celtic divide.
In that sense he was similar to his friend, the late Tommy Burns. They both loved their respective clubs, but there was a huge amount of respect for the opposition as well.
Walter Smith was a Scottish footballing legend and it’s sad that another of our game’s iconic figures has left us.
Injuries don’t help Dons cause
Losing Calvin Ramsay, Jack MacKenzie and Declan Gallagher to injury is a blow for Aberdeen.
All three defenders will be missing at least until after next month’s international break.
The displays of full-backs Ramsay and MacKenzie in particular have been bright points during a frustrating start to the season.
But injuries happen, so hopefully when the youngsters return they’ll be able to pick up where they left off.
Manager Stephen Glass’ squad is depleted at the moment, but the Reds should have enough options to deal with injuries.
Dean Campbell and Dylan McGeouch came into the side against Rangers and both acquitted themselves well.