Rangers manager Mark Warburton thinks his side served up a good defensive performance against Aberdeen, despite losing 2-1 at Pittodrie. 

The first half saw both sides huff and puff, without really threatening to take the lead, though Rangers did enjoy the better of the possession and headed in at the break disappointed at not making it pay.




The Gers were looking to build on their possessional dominance in the second half, but it took Aberdeen only one minute after the restart to take the lead when Jonny Hayes used his turn of pace to lose the Rangers defence and fired in well past Wes Foderingham.

Rangers fought back however and were level with eleven minutes left when Hayes obstructed a Lee Wallace run, which saw a penalty given and Andy Halliday slot it away.
 


Aberdeen would ultimately come up trumps though and in the 90th minute were awarded a controversial free kick when James Tavernier was judged to have committed a foul, allowing James Maddison to hit a stunning strike to seal a 2-1 win for the hosts.

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Warburton was disappointed with the loss, which leaves Rangers seventh, however he is taking the positive of a good defensive display.

"It was a good defensive performance – we won the first balls, picked up the second balls, were brave and we squeezed tightly", he told Rangers TV.

"They got on it to get out and Aberdeen pressed us, but they still got on it.

"We asked our players to be brave today, and they were. I’ve just said to the players that we have to be very, very careful with what we take from today’s game.

"Nobody ever wants to lose a game of football, ever, but we would have been frustrated at 1-1. 

"We were very, very good for long periods today, but to give away that cheap goal and to have that free-kick given is frustration beyond belief."

Warburton feels that his side have made progress and is certain it was clear to see against an Aberdeen team he dubbed "good".

"I think we maintained our progress which we saw last Saturday, again on Tuesday, and then another level today in terms of dominating the ball and moving the ball against a good Aberdeen team – and Derek [McInnes] is a more than able manager who gets his teams going – we came here today and were very, very good."

Rangers are next in action against bottom of the table Partick Thistle at Ibrox.