A frantic start from Alex McLeish’s men yielded two early goals and, although the home side reduced the gap soon after through Darren Mackie, a fantastic battling second half performance from the Light Blues was enough to send the three points back to Glasgow.
After a promising start to the season, Aberdeen’s form had faltered in recent weeks and they lined up against Rangers desperately seeking their first league goal since December 11 and their first league victory since the week before that.
There had looked little chance of either of those gloomy records being broken here after Rangers roared into a two-goal lead within the opening 15 minutes.
After a physical buffeting in his two previous encounters against the Dons, Dado Prso must have wondered what sort of bruising awaited him today when he returned to the starting line-up after being rested last week against Dunfermline.
On this occasion, however, it was the Croatian’s turn to inflict the pain as he swept Rangers into the lead after just nine minutes.
Aberdeen’s early season form had been built on the foundation of sturdy defending but they were posted missing when Prso ghosted on to Bojan Djordjic’s telling pass and clipped a precise shot across Ryan Esson and in off the post.
Rangers have traditionally struggled to gain the upper hand in recent tussles at Pittodrie so there must have been sections of the visiting support rubbing their eyes in disbelief when McLeish’s men doubled their lead just six minutes later.
Nacho Novo – reinstated after completing his two-game suspension- was the chief instigator of the move, bewildering Michael Hart with an audacious turn that left the defender staring at the ground wondering where the Spaniard had gone.
Novo’s shot clipped the inside of Esson’s legs and out for a corner – drifting only narrowly wide of the goal – but the keeper’s torment didn’t end there.
When Fernando Ricksen sent over the resultant corner, Esson flapped at it only to see his tame slap rebound off the hapless Kevin McNaughton and into the back of the net.
This was a dizzying start for Rangers but not one in which they ever looked entirely comfortable at the back.
New signing Sotirios Kyrgiakos’ decision to return to Athens for the weekend meant Marvin Andrews and Bob Malcolm were again paired at the heart of the defence and twice their resistance was punctured by searching long balls that required Stefan Klos to race off his line to clear.
Mackie had looked Aberdeen’s most threatening forward in the early stages and, moments after Klos had kept out the striker’s snap-shot, Mackie brought Jimmy Calderwood’s men back into the contest with a well-taken goal.
McNaughton was the provider and when his centre came in, Mackie reacted first to slide the ball past Klos from close range.
A rip-snorting match had taken another dramatic turn, the frenetic pace leaving both sets of supporters gasping for breath as they tried to take in the ever-changing façade of this engrossing encounter.
Prso threatened again, nodding Ricksen’s free kick narrowly wide, before Novo passed up the chance to extend Rangers’ lead moments before the break.
Noel Whelan – anonymous until then – inexplicably tried to reach his goalkeeper with a hopeful backpass that Novo intercepted but, after rounding the goalkeeper, his shot from an acute angle clunked against the far post and was cleared.
Whelan almost made amends moments later, latching on to Mackie’s cross, but was unable to steer the ball beyond the ever-vigilant Klos.
After a temporary respite, the mayhem continued again after the break as Aberdeen pushed for an equaliser while Rangers looked to extend their lead once more.
A tempestuous match had always threatened to boil over and a collision between Djordjic and Hart sparked a rammy in front of the Rangers dug-out, leading to bookings for the Dons defender as well as Gregory Vignal.
Djordjic’s involvement in this feisty affair would end moments later when he was stretchered off after clashing with Chris Clark – Steven Thompson taking his place – before the ineffective Thomas Buffel was replaced by Stephen Hughes as Rangers looked to close out the victory.
By this stage, substitutions were outnumbering shots on target although Novo fired tamely at Esson after being played in by the tireless Ricksen.
A thundering Marvin Andrews tackle then sent Novo fleeing down the right wing and when he crossed Zander Diamond reacted fastest to deny Thompson a sight of goal.
Aberdeen’s response was a Clark shot that zipped over the crossbar before Rangers had a decent penalty claim turned down when Russell Anderson tugged at Novo’s shirt in the box.
With the second ticking away, substitute Hamed Namouchi passed up a glaring chance to seal the victory when he raced onto Thompson’s through ball but slid his shot embarrassingly wide.
Aberdeen rallied in the dying moments but couldn’t find their way past a steadfast defence as Gers held on for a precious three points.
ABERDEEN (4-4-2): 20 Esson; 15 Hart, 4 Anderson, 5 Diamond, 3 McNaughton; 11 Clark, 22 Winter (Muirhead 73), 8 Heikkinen, 21 Foster (Stewart 80); 23 Whelan (Kristjansson 69), 14 Mackie
Subs not used: Ilic, Adams, Pasquinelli, Morrison
Booked: McNaughton (36), Whelan (45), Hart (52), Clark (59)
RANGERS (4-4-2): 1 Klos; 21 Ross, 12 Malcolm, 5 Andrews, 24 Vignal; 2 Ricksen, 8 A Rae, 4 Buffel (Hughes 71), 23 Djordjic (Thompson 55); 9 Prso (Namouchi 81), 10 Novo
Subs not used: McGregor, Burke, Ball, Hutton
Booked: Vignal (52), Namouchi (89)
Man of the Match: Dado Prso