Todd Cantwell proved the match winner for the Light Blues as he continued his impressive start to life in Glasgow, firing a superb first-time volley beyond Kelle Roos midway through the second half after the Dons goalkeeper had quelled the Gers on numerous occasions until that point.
Michael Beale named five changes to his Gers side for the visit of Aberdeen, which included a first start of the season for Academy graduate Robby McCrorie between the posts.
The lineup also included a new look frontline comprised Fashion Jr., Ianis Hagi and Rabbi Matondo, with the latter immediately getting stuck into the action by feeding Todd Cantwell who fired over inside two minutes.
Cantwell was involved once again on 18 minutes, curling inches wide of Roos’ post after Fashion Jr. chested the ball into the midfielder’s path following a neat crossfield pass from Ben Davies.
The Ibrox side were cranking up the pressure as John Lundstram was next to go close, seeing his effort from the edge of the penalty area deflected behind by the head of Angus MacDonald. Nicolas Raskin then sliced wide of the target from the resulting corner after the ball fell kindly to the Belgian 18 yards out.
Aberdeen looked destined to score against the run of play just moments later as Bojan Miovski strode forward into space on the counter-attack. The Dons forward elected to square the ball across the penalty area to Duk who was denied by a fantastic diving stop from McCrorie.
The hosts resumed their occupation of the Aberdeen defensive third as the half-time interval drew ever closer, calling Roos into a string of impressive stops inside a five-minute stretch. Fashion Jr. went close initially when he was inches away from connecting with Hagi’s looping header, before he was denied with a smart diving stop from the Dons goalkeeper after a deft flick around-the-corner from Matondo released the Zambian inside the danger area.
Barry Robson’s men reminded the Gers of their threat on the break on the stroke of half-time, with Duk passing up another dangerous opportunity when he lifted his finish onto the roof of the net after McCrorie did well to force the Portuguese into a hurried decision.
Rangers wasted precious little time in threatening the visitors’ goal after the restart. Matondo showed tremendous fleet of foot to race to the byline on the left-hand side, fizzing a delivery across the face of goal that was diverted onto his own crossbar by Jonny Hayes.
In the meantime, Fashion Jr. had the ball in the net after latching onto a Cantwell through pass and finishing smartly through the legs of Roos, but the linesman raised his flag to curb the celebrations inside Ibrox.
Aberdeen continued to carry an attacking threat of their own, albeit in fleeting moments, with McCrorie forced to tip Mattie Pollock’s header onto the roof of the net after the Dons defender rose highest inside the penalty box.
Several stoppages of play from Aberdeen slowed the contest down either side of the hour-mark, but the match sprung to life on 64 minutes when the Gers broke the deadlock. James Tavernier’s deep corner travelled all the way through to Cantwell positioned intelligently on the edge of the penalty area, with the midfielder arrowing a fantastic first-time volley into the bottom corner to leave Roos with no chance.
That proved the cue for Beale to make a quadruple substitution, introducing the fresh legs of Scott Arfield, Scott Wright, Alfredo Morelos and Glen Kamara.
The former Aberdeen man almost doubled the home side’s lead just minutes after taking to the pitch. Turning intelligently in midfield, the 25-year-old drove through the heart of the Dons midfield before his powerful effort was tipped over by Roos.
Wright was at the heart of the action once again with 15 minutes remaining, weaving his way to the byline before watching his delivery across the face of goal slice narrowly off target by Hayes.
The visitors were able to get bodies forward in search of a leveller with eight minutes remaining, prompting McCrorie to make a comfortable save with his legs when Shayden Morris fired towards goal from a narrow angle.
Roos was quick off his goal line to thwart Wright as the attacker chased down a searching through pass in the dying embers of the match, allowing Aberdeen to fashion a final attempt at goal down the opposite end when Marley Watkins dragged a tame effort wide from distance.
The referee brought the contest to a conclusion following four additional minutes as the Gers collected all three points and a clean sheet for the returning McCrorie.
RANGERS: McCrorie, Tavernier, Goldson, Davies (Souttar, 45), Ridvan, Raskin (Kamara, 65), Lundstram, Cantwell, Hagi (Wright, 65), Matondo (Morelos, 65), Fashion Jr. (Arfield, 65)
SUBS NOT USED: McLaughlin, King, Devine, Lowry
ABERDEEN: Roos, Scales, Miovski (Watkins, 75), Duk (Morris, 79), Ramadani, Hayes, Pollock, Clarkson (Bavidge, 87), Coulson, Duncan (Barron, 75), MacDonald
SUBS NOT USED: Lewis, McKenzie, Markanday, Richardson, Kennedy
REFEREE: John Beaton