Naderi's late winner sends Rangers into Premier Sports Cup final
Ryan Naderi scored in the 83rd minute as Rangers beat Aberdeen 1-0 to reach the final of the Premier Sports Cup, Scotland's League Cup under its sponsored name.
The semi-final was played at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Saturday 31 October, with a 17:30 kick-off in front of 43,567 people. Neither side scored in the first half, and the game stayed tight for long spells. Then Naderi broke the deadlock late on, and the stadium erupted.
Rangers dominated the ball. BBC Sport reported that they had 74% possession, meaning they kept hold of the ball for nearly three-quarters of the match. They also had 25 shots, but only five were on target, which means the goalkeeper had to save them or the ball would have gone in. Aberdeen's goalkeeper had an impressive afternoon and kept his side in the game for much of it.
Naderi joined Rangers in February from a club in the German third tier. He has now scored eight goals this season. One came in Rangers' 1-0 league win at Celtic Park, and now the winner at Hampden has been added to that list. Scoring twice against the same opponent in one season is the kind of thing a striker remembers.
Rangers manager Derek McInnes was pleased but not fully satisfied. He said that only having five shots on target from 25 shots "isn't good enough." He also said the job was to get the club into a cup final, and that it was job done "by hook or by crook," meaning by whatever means it took. Rangers' official site carried his delight at the result.
The win also extends a good run. Rangers have now gone 11 games unbeaten, and they have kept seven clean sheets in that stretch, including this one against Aberdeen.
The final is scheduled for Sunday 13 December. Rangers will face either Hearts or Hibernian in it. For a neutral, the story here is simple: a team that dominated possession but struggled to finish found the one chance that mattered, and a striker who had already scored on a big stage added another big goal.
For Rangers supporters, the next few weeks are about turning that momentum into silverware. For everyone else, it is a reminder of how one moment in the 83rd minute can change the mood of a whole city. SPFL confirmed the result and the place in the final.
