Rangers reaction: Birthday blues avoided by Roofe; Van Bronckhorst gets big calls right; Barron a star in making for Aberdeen

Rangers can put their title defence on the back burner for a fortnight after keeping their hopes of retaining the Premiership crown very much alive.

As the Scottish champions celebrated their 150th anniversary in spectacular fashion off the pitch on Saturday, with an array of banners depicting famous moments from their history and a pyrotechnic display before kick-off, Aberdeen did their best to spoil the festivities when the action began.

Jim Goodwin’s game plan was highly effective, suffocating Rangers’ creative talents Joe Aribo and Ryan Kent, and ensured the hosts struggled to work up any momentum or fluency.

But after an instantly forgettable first half, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team upped the ante after the break. Although still nowhere near their best, they played with greater aggression and tempo as they camped in the Aberdeen half before eventually being rewarded for their persistence when substitute Kemar Roofe grabbed the only goal with nine minutes of regulation time remaining.

Van Bronckhorst proves doubters wrong

Having incurred the wrath of a large swathe of Rangers’ travelling support in Perth the previous Wednesday night when he did not utilise his subs’ bench at all in the 1-0 win over St Johnstone, van Bronckhorst had many of them in a ferment at Ibrox when the number of Alfredo Morelos was held up in the 78th minute with the game still goalless against Aberdeen.

Most of those fans clearly felt bringing the Colombian striker’s afternoon to an early end was diminishing Rangers’ prospects of securing the winner they so desperately needed to maintain the pressure on Celtic at the top of the table.

But van Bronckhorst was vindicated when Roofe, the man he replaced Morelos with, forced the ball home from