DEREK McInnes has stressed the need for improved discipline when his Aberdeen side go head-to-head with Rangers at Ibrox today.

But the Dons manager insists the competitive nature of the fixture shouldn’t be diluted as his determined outfit seek to continue their good run against Steven Gerrard’s men and grab a fifth successive place in the Europa League qualifiers.

Aberdeen have lost just one of their previous six meetings with Rangers this season with the bitter rivalry between the sides frequently flaring-up. It has produced five red cards, with three of them for Rangers.

McInnes, however, sees it as a mouth-watering game for the fans.

“Discipline is important in these type of games,” he said. “It is normally a highly-charged atmosphere but you never want it to spill over. There have been a lot of red cards this season and while some were deserved, others maybe weren’t.”

McInnes took issue with the sending-off of Dons front man Sam Cosgrove following a second yellow in the 1-0 win in December when a Scott McKenna goal sealed the points.

Alfredo Morelos, the volatile Rangers striker, also saw red that day but McInnes hopes there will be no big disciplinary issues for referee Don Robertson.

“Cosgrove at Ibrox last time out was never a red card offence,” he said. “You need to try and keep a calmness on the pitch but you wouldn’t want the atmosphere or the rivalry to be anything other than competitive.

“We have some key games in the Scottish league and I would always see Rangers v Aberdeen as one of them. It whets the appetite and there is nothing wrong with that.”

McInnes argued that their only defeat to Rangers this season – a 4-2 loss at Pittodrie in February – was probably their best performance against them.

“It was more of an open game even though we got beat,” he said. “Rangers showed their quality when they had space to work. They are as good as any team in the league when they have time and space to operate. They have good players and a very healthy squad. The Rangers squad and team this season are much improved and we’ll have our work cut out.

“Every time we play Rangers we have to work hard to get a positive result and hopefully we can do that again.”

One of Aberdeen’s players who has seen red this season, Dom Ball, has spoken about the clash of heads that left his good friend Ryan Christie facing surgery on a broken eye socket, jaw and cheekbone, after a horrific challenge during the Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic a fortnight ago.

Ball, coming to the end of a loan spell from Rotherham United, shared a house with Christie last season, when the Celtic midfielder was sent out on loan to Pittodrie.

Ball, already on a yellow card, saw the first red card of his career, but was more concerned about his friend as he watched him stretchered-off.

“I had slowed down thinking I was on a yellow card and I shouldn’t do anything stupid,” said Ball, who hopes he can sign a permanent deal with the Dons. “I thought Ryan was going to win it but the ball bounced up and it was floating in the air. Obviously I’ve gone for it and our heads clashed.

“I lived with Ryan in Aberdeen last year so I was never going to try to hurt him.

“I’ve been in touch with him the whole time since it happened. It was disappointing that I had hurt him and he’s out for the rest of the season. You forget all about the football when something like that happens and on that day it was more about how he was than anything else.

“He’s actually been having a laugh as has he sent me a selfie and said ‘how the hell have you got off without even a headache and I look like this’!”