ABERDEEN'S match winner James Maddison believes the Pittodrie club has underlined they can challenge for the Scottish title once again this season with their dramatic win over Rangers.

Maddison, the Norwich City player who is on loan at Aberdeen for the first half of the 2016/17 campaign, netted a sensational long-range free-kick in the last minute of the Ladbrokes Premiership game yesterday.

The 2-1 victory ensured the north-east club moved into second spot in the top flight table just four points behind defending champions Celtic, who have a game in hand.

Read more: Red Army revel in the misfortunes of their visitors after five long years apartThe Herald:

Their 19-year-old attacking midfielder, who had replaced Peter Pawlett at half-time, is confident that Derek McInnes’s side, runners-up in the last two seasons, can stay in touch.

“I think we sent a message out to Scottish football today – that we’re not here just to plod along, we’re here to challenge,” he said.

Read more: Red Army revel in the misfortunes of their visitors after five long years apart

“Rangers are a quality side and they showed that in spells. They had spells of possession when they really tested our defence. But I think that shows how good we are as a squad, that we dug deep.

“We don’t want to look too far ahead. But, with the squad we’ve got, we’re capable of beating anyone on their day. So we head to Kilmarnock next Saturday looking for three points.

“It has been a great week for us, we have won three games and scored two late goals to win matches. Jayden Stockley came off the bench against Dundee, Adam Rooney did it against St Johnstone and I did it in the Rangers game.

“That shows the quality and depth we have in the squad. The competition is healthy and it’s paying off. We will look back on this last week as a massive one for the football club.

“The fans were great. I don’t want to use the 12th-man cliché, but it felt like that. Hopefully, with the result we got, they can keep coming back. Because, honestly, it gives you that extra little boost. Even if it’s just one or two per cent, you give that extra for them.”

Maddison added: “It was an unbelievable feeling because that’s what you dream of in the build up to the game. There was a lot of hype around the match and you go through scenarios in your head, well I do anyway, and one of those was scoring the winning goal late on. That’s what happened – it was exactly as I planned!

Read more: Red Army revel in the misfortunes of their visitors after five long years apart

“I came on to change the game because the first half wasn’t good enough. It was a tough game to come into be-cause the atmosphere was electric and it was a really quick match. I knew that at 1-1 we might get a chance to win it and we did that with the free-kick.

“I was always going to take it, Niall McGinn and I have been having banter about free-kicks because we practice them together. But he was off at the time so I didn’t have him chirping in my ear wanting to take it. I would have been taking it anyway, definitely.

“Was I nervous stepping up? No, I don’t get nervous because I have confidence in my ability. I knew I was able to stick it away and thankfully I did. I’m just buzzing with it, this was a massive game. It’s just three points, but it feels like much more like that because of the build-up and the hype.

“I was gutted to be left out because I feel like I’ve been playing well and making a good contribution to the team. But sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture. When I look back the gaffer made the right decision to utilise the squad because we have a lot of quality here."