Aberdeen 1 - 2 Rangers

I THOUGHT the young Dons played better against Rangers than they did the previous Saturday against Airdrie - yet they lost at Pittodrie and won handsomely at Broomfield. But that I football. No two games are alike. They say you make your own luck in football but I felt that our boys didn't get the breaks against Rangers, and, all in all, were unlucky to less by the odd goal in three.
If Charlie Elvin had converted that penalty almost immediately after Rangers had opened the scoring, the game might have taken a different course. One of the 4,000 spectators at the game - compare that with the 219 at Airdrie for our visit - said to me later that he thought Elvin was too young to be given the responsibility of a vital spot kick, but Charlie had slotted one just as important against St. Johnstone earlier in the season and he was only an inch or two away from repeating the process.
Two bright features of the game for me were the displays of Chic McLelland and Jimmy Smith. Chic is recovering well from an ankle injury and Jimmy got through 2 power of work. Against a hard-hitting Rangers team, our defence perhaps put too much work on ball ? a fault which cost us the second goal. But I'm far from downhearted. We won't meet many teams as tough as Rangers and I've no doubt that the young Dons will show great improvement as the season progresses.

Source: Match programme, 2nd October 1971