Aberdeen Coach Mark McGhee: I Want Big Win Over Rangers

By Andrew Southwick

Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee has called on his team to beat Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers in style when they visit on Saturday lunchtime.

The visitors are reeling after being knocked out of Europe on Tuesday after VfB Stuttgart's fairly easy win at Ibrox.

The 'Gers now visit Pittodrie, a ground they have not won at in nearly three years, desperate to hold onto top spot to pick up some much needed confidence.

But the Dons boss insists that he is looking for both sides to play good football, with Aberdeen triumphing on the day.

In his pre-match press conference McGhee said: "My dream is that Aberdeen play well, Rangers play well, and we win.

"If we both play poorly, but we win 1-0 through a Charlie Mulgrew free-kick, I won't be all that happy."

Aberdeen against Rangers is always an eagerly anticipated fixture, with an intense rivalry that gives the game an edge, matched only by local derbies.

McGhee knows, therefore, that Rangers manager Walter Smith will have his players up for the game, but is confident his side are coming onto a good run of form.

"Walter Smith has been there and done it and he knows how to galvanise his troops," he said.

"He will have left that behind and will be looking forward now to retaining the championship and making sure they're in the Champions League next year.

"That's all he can do now so he will be fully focused on that.

"We can't expect any favours because of a bad result they had in midweek.

"Whenever you play the Old Firm it's always difficult for the rest of us.

"I think we're getting them at a good time in the sense of ourselves.

"I think we're in as good shape, in terms of mentally in particular, going into this game as we have been all season.

"We have a team selected that we think can do the business against Rangers. But that's because of us, not them."

Although McGhee is happy with his side's form, he knows the results have not matched their performances, with another two points dropped in last week's 1-1 draw with Motherwell.

McGhee says his side have to be more clinical if they are to start rising up the SPL table.

"One of the things that happened in both those games [Motherwell and St Johnstone] was that we made a lot of chances," he said.

"We're making good, good chances. I'm not talking about opportunities to make chances, I'm talking about clear-cut chances.

"If we make those sort of chances against Rangers, we're going to have to take a couple of them to win."