Naderi’s late strike earns Rangers a 1-0 win over Aberdeen at Hampden Park
Ryan Naderi scored in the 83rd minute to give Rangers a 1-0 victory over Aberdeen in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on 31 October 2026, sending Rangers into the final.
Aberdeen had kept Rangers largely at bay early, restricting them to one shot on target in a low-quality first half, while Rangers were unbeaten in 10 matches and started as firm favourites. Aberdeen were forced into a makeshift defence with five defenders absent — Lewis Mayo, Mats Knoester, Dan Happe, Kristers Tobers and Chris Cadden — and Nicky Devlin made his first start of the season. Derek McInnes, the Rangers manager who won the trophy with Aberdeen in 2014, raised eyebrows by dropping midfielder Dan Neil, with Tuur Rommens selected at left-back, James Penrice moved into midfield and Badredine Bouanani starting in place of Djeidi Gassama.
Rangers’ best early opening came in the 23rd minute when Nesta Guinness-Walker drove through a gap and forced a save from goalkeeper Ivor Pandur; Aberdeen captain Kevin Nisbet then glanced a header wide and Naderi hooked an effort over the crossbar. Aberdeen’s resilience kept the score level through a first half that produced few clear chances.
Just before the break Aberdeen goalkeeper Marius Müller parried a low drive from Bouanani and Naderi headed a cross from stand-in captain Nico Raskin just over, while Kim slashed a drive wide. As the match opened up after the interval, Pandur saved a deflected Kevin Nesbit drive, Müller blocked a shot from Kim and Rangers striker Kevin Kelsy headed a Bouanani delivery past a post from six yards. Müller also blocked another Bouanani effort and pushed away a Raskin volley, and on a rare Aberdeen break Nesbit’s shot was deflected wide before the striker hooked over from the corner.
Aberdeen were further disrupted when Emmanuel Gyamfi injured himself trying to tackle Kim Min-su and was replaced by Stuart Armstrong. The deadlock finally broke in the 83rd minute when Bouanani knocked the ball back to Penrice and he fired towards goal, with Naderi stepping in to beat Müller from close range for his eighth goal of the season and the decisive 1-0 scoreline at Hampden Park.
Elsewhere, Simo Valakari dedicated St Johnstone’s battling 2-2 draw at Kilmarnock to goalkeeper Toby Steward, who was dismissed in the 14th minute after handling outside his penalty area. Saints twice fell behind to goals from Cathal McCarthy and Djenairo Daniels but equalised both times through Danny Schmidt and Joel Cotterill; substitute goalkeeper Ross Sinclair, who came on at the expense of Taylor Steven, made multiple second-half saves to help Saints move up to seventh. Valakari said: “Toby has held his hands up and said: ‘I am sorry, boys, for what I did.’ But our team did it for Toby, the boys did it for Taylor, who I needed to take out straight away. “We are all here playing for each other. We have got each other’s backs when things happen. That tells me my players are ready to accept any responsibility. Early red card, with Toby that’s my tactical choice. I ask my keeper to play very high, like a sweeper-keeper for those long balls. In those moments, for a year, Toby has been fantastic in clearing the ball, reading the ball. It’s a thin line, a little outside the box, that can happen.”
Motherwell ended a seven-game winless run with a 1-0 victory over St Mirren as Lukas Fadinger converted a penalty eight minutes from time to lift the Fir Park side into eighth. Manager Alfred Johansson said: “Even more than relief, I felt good, happy, joy, determination. This group has done really well lately and I think it’s very well deserved to get the victory and have at least four points from these last two games. It’s important to build on it, the most important thing today is that we didn’t give away easy goals or big chances at all.”
Rangers will meet the winners of Sunday’s other semi-final between Hearts and Hibernian in the Premier Sports Cup final.