IT was another box ticked for this increasingly impressive Aberdeen team.
A first win at Ibrox since 1991 is something to celebrate, albeit it came against a poor Rangers side who still managed to give themselves a chance.
However, it felt like an important moment for Aberdeen circa 2017 who are good team but not a great one. They will have to do a lot more than defeating this current Rangers side to deserve that description. Beating Celtic next Saturday would make them great.
Graeme Shinnie, the Aberdeen captain and first goalscorer in what was a long-awaited 2-1 win, was two months old when the team he’s always supported last left Govan with three points. Now there’s a thought.
For all that McInnes has unquestionably improved the Pittodrie side, a question mark had remained regarding big games. They have yet to beat Celtic this season over five matches and Rangers enjoyed two wins over the old pals from the North East.
“We are just doing our jobs,” said Shinnie. “We came down here to win, just like we do at every other ground. People will talk about us - that’s part and parcel of football. We just look to do our business the best we can and we’ve done that.
“Being called bottler) is out of our hands. People are going to question us, and football is all about opinions, but we don’t let that come into the dressing room. The team spirit is brilliant. If we want to look at anything, look at the semi final against Hibs. A lot of people would have said we could have bottled that, but we didn’t.
“We prepare all week for the game. We knew we could pass it about on a nice pitch. It’s been a while since Aberdeen won and we were desperate to win and I think it showed on our performance.
“I think over the course of the season, we deserve to be second and that’s down to the hard work of the management team and the players.”
Aberdeen should have been out of sight before Rangers got a goal back after an hour. Shinnie, who was terrific, claimed not to be surprised by how much his side dominated for long spells.
“We are second in the league for a reason and we wanted to go out and show that.,” he said. “We were disappointed to lose the goal because it gave them momentum with the crowd lifting them. But even after that I thought we still created chances. We were disappointed to be only 2-0 up.
“We’ve got Thistle coming up on Sunday and want to do well to keep the momentum going coming into the Cup Final. It’s been a good season so far and we’ve cemented second place, which we were desperate to do.”
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