A pre-match survey of Aberdeen's Premier League record against Rangers under Ebbe Skovdahl's management showed that the Pittodrie team had lost nine and drawn one, so perhaps another defeat, this time at Ibrox, was no surprise.

Indeed, the only shock was that the home team failed to turn their vast territorial superiority into more goals.

As it was, a first-half strike from Ronald de Boer and a controversial Barry Ferguson penalty after 77 minutes, following Kevin McNaughton's dismissal for handball, was more than enough.

The scoreline, in fact, flattered an Aberdeen team devoid of ambition and who arrived in Glasgow seemingly intent on damage limitation.

That in turn put the onus on Rangers to find the craft and guile to break down a side who played, even at 1-0 down, with just Laurent D'jaffo up front and never at any time did he look capable of troubling Stefan Klos.

As such, it was always a case of how many goals the home team would score and de Boer's strike from a Peter Lovenkrands corner, dummied by Shota Arveladze, put them on their way.

Ferguson, Fernando Ricksen and de Boer missed gilt-edged chances to add to that, but, in the end, it required the captain's penalty, after the referee John Underhill adjudged - wrongly - that McNaughton had handled on the line, to make it safe.

That completed a miserable week for the young Aberdeen star, booked earlier but given a straight red card for his handball, who had been taken off at half-time in Scotland's friendly against Denmark and later criticised by the manager Berti Vogts.

The Pittodrie manager Skovdahl, however, insisted: "We will appeal against this sending-off. I don't think it was a penalty and whatever else there was no deliberate handball."

The Rangers boss Alex McLeish, like most managers, diplomatically said he did not see the penalty incident but declared: "That second goal took a long time coming and, overall, it was a meagre reward for all our pressure."

McNaughton had earlier been booked for a foul on Mikel Arteta and there were yellow cards, too, for team-mate Derek Young and the Rangers pair Bob Malcolm and Peter Lovenkrands.

Celtic stay two points ahead of Rangers, however, thanks to a Henrik Larsson goal on Saturday at Partick Thistle.

Neil Lennon, who has had a terrible week, recieved a standing ovation from the fans of both clubs when he ran out at the end of a line of Celtic team-mates to begin his warm-up.

He acknowledged the support and seemed simply pleased to be back out on a football pitch.

Intermittent chants of: There's only one Neil Lennon, from visiting supporters appeared to confirm all was well again.

Celtic had a hatful of chances before manager Martin O'Neill withdrew Lennon in the 64th minute and introduced an extra striker in John Hartson.

The change of tactics had the desired effect in the 71st minute when Celtic netted the only goal of the game.

Chris Sutton picked out Hartson in the box and the Welshman lobbed the ball to the far post for Larsson to head home from close range.