Aberdeen came, saw and conquered on their last visit to Glasgow with an excellent win over Celtic, but they were brought back down to earth with a bump this afternoon as Gers emerged victorious from a bloody battle at Ibrox.
With the chance to reduce the gap at the top of the table to just four points Gers set about their business immediately and Dado Prso had two excellent opportunities inside the opening two minutes.
The first shot rose high over the bar but his second attempt, a looping header from Namouchi’s cross, beat Ryan Esson, however could only find the roof of the net.
Aberdeen, clearly on a high from their victory at Parkhead during the week, then mounted a double attack of their own with Phil McGuire shooting wide before Klos saved Pasquinelli’s shot well.
As is always the case in these fixtures the game surged along at a staggering pace and in the ninth minute Fernando Ricksen won a free kick on the edge of the Dons area.
The Dutchman netted a superb free kick against Calderwood’s men last month in the CIS Cup and this set piece was almost a carbon copy.
Ricksen clearly sensed this and duly stepped up but unfortunately his shot had the Broomloan Front ducking for cover as Esson looked on gratefully.
After quarter of an hour then Ricksen turned provider when his corner found Prso. The Croatian sent a powerful header goal bound but Esson matched his effort with a great save to tip the ball over his bar.
Unfortunately that was to be Prso’s last involvement in the game after he sustained a nasty cut to the forehead in a collision with Scott Severin.
The doctor immediately signalled for him to be substituted and when Steven Thompson was sent on as his replacement it only took 13 minutes before he opened the scoring.
Nacho Novo is loved by the Light Blue faithful for his big heart and never say die attitude and it was his persistence that led to the goal in the 39th minute.
He collected Thompson’s pass wide on the right and although his initial cross was blocked the little Spaniard chased the lose ball to the by-line and hammered it into the six yard box, where Thompson – who started the initial move – directed it home.
At the interval Calderwood decided to use his trump card, the one that served him so well at Parkhead, by throwing on John Stewart.
The youngster was clearly brimming with confidence and in the 54th minute he picked up Bob Malcolm’s slack pass in the middle of the park and was only a timely interception from Boumsong stopped him getting a shot away.
Two minutes later Novo broke free at the other end and although Esson couldn’t hold his powerful shot the ball just wouldn’t fall to a blue jersey, giving the Dons a chance to clear.
The Light Blues were stung last Sunday against Dundee United when they failed to add to their one goal lead and Aberdeen sent a reminder they were very much still in this game in the 65th minute.
Darren Mackie chased a long ball and Stewart was on hand to volley his cut back goal bound but the shot rose just over the bar.
In hindsight it was just the kick Gers needed and three minutes later Peter Lovenkrands, who returned to the side this afternoon following illness, made it 2-0.
The Dane cleverly lost his marker by coming back from an offside position to pick up Ricksen’s through ball and held his nerve to beat Esson in a one on one situation.
In the 73rd minute he wasn’t so clinical though after Namouchi’s dummy gave him a clear sight at goal but he could only shoot into the side netting.
Luckily this miss didn’t turn out to be costly as Nacho Novo ended the game as a contest with quarter of an hour remaining.
Russell Anderson couldn’t deal with the long ball forward and Novo nipped in to round Esson and make it 3-0.
In the 88th minute Steven Thompson then thought he had made it four but his header was kicked off the line by McNaughton. Ricksen, however, latched on to the clearance and his drive from 25-yards did end up in the back of the net.
The Light Blues were now in full flow and Phil McGuire added to his team’s woes a minute later when he conceded a penalty after fouling Novo.
The former Dundee striker then stepped up to send Esson the wrong way and complete the rout.
RANGERS: 4-4-2 – Klos; Khizanishvili, Andrews, Boumsong (Hutton 79), Vignal; Namouchi, Ricksen, Malcolm, Lovenkrands; Novo, Prso (Thompson 26)
SUBS: Smith, Ball, Hughes, Burke, Arveladze
BOOKINGS: Novo 40, Malcolm 85
ABERDEEN: 3-5-2 -Esson; McGuire, Severin, Anderson; Tosh (Foster 73), Adams (Whelan 73), Hart, Clark, McNaughton; Pasquinelli (Stewart 45), Mackie
SUBS: Kelly, Morrison, Considine, O’Leary
BOOKINGS: Mackie 46, McGuire 71, Anderson 83
REFEREE: Hugh Dallas
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Nacho Novo