Crowd trouble mars Rangers' victory

Rangers beat Aberdeen 1-0 at Pittodrie today but the Scottish league game was marred by crowd trouble which led to a 15-minute…

Rangers beat Aberdeen 1-0 at Pittodrie today but the Scottish league game was marred by crowd trouble which led to a 15-minute delay midway through the first half.

The game was goalless after 25 minutes when Aberdeen's Robbie Winters, preparing to take a corner, was hit on the head by a coin thrown from the Rangers section of the crowd.

As police moved in to calm the visiting fans, around 20 Aberdeen supporters climbed on to the pitch and ran towards the Rangers section, triggering a few minor skirmishes.

The referee immediately led the players off the pitch and, after police in riot gear had been positioned around the playing area, the game restarted.

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There were no further problems but the hold-up seemed to take some sting from the game, which produced few clear chances.

The only goal came after 33 minutes when Italian Lorenzo Amoruso fired home a left-footer from 25 metres, securing Rangers' 12th win in 13 league meetings with Aberdeen.

"It's a shame when you see something like that," Amoruso said.

"I could see coins flying past my head and eventually one of them hit me," said Winters, who was not seriously hurt. "I think we had to go off but that's not the sort of thing you want to see at Scottish football." - Reuters