Rangers win Viaplay Cup as James Tavernier’s goal downs Aberdeen
Rangers' players celebrate winning the Viaplay Cup final at Hampden Park
James Tavernier was the Rangers hero as the Light Blues picked up their first trophy of the Philippe Clement era with a 1-0 Viaplay Cup Final win over Aberdeen.
The prolific skipper rifled in the winner in the 75th minute of a hard-fought encounter at Hampden Park to hand his Belgian boss his first trophy after just a few months at Ibrox.
The victory completed the clean sweep of domestic trophy wins for the full-back and it also meant Clement remains unbeaten in 14 games since taking over from Michael Beale in October.
It was the 28th time the Ibrox club have won the trophy – the first since 2011 – and they still have interest in the title and Europa League this season, with the Scottish Cup yet to start, so Gers fans will be hoping more success is on its way.
Both sides went into the game on a wet and windy Glasgow afternoon in fine fettle.
Rangers' stunning 3-2 win away to Real Betis on Thursday night took them into the last 16 of the Europa League. Although the Dons were already out of the Europa Conference League, their 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt was more than commendable.
There was a further boost with the return of forward Bojan Miovski from a hamstring issue while skipper Graeme Shinnie, Leighton Clarkson, Jamie McGrath, Nicky Devlin, Richard Jensen and Jonny Hayes also returned.
Leon Balogun, Todd Cantwell and Dujon Sterling were back for Rangers, who had not beaten their opponents in two games this season.
However, both sides were below par in the first half.
On the half-hour mark Gers attacker Abdallah Sima took a pass from Cantwell inside the Aberdeen box but his low drive on the turn, no more than decent, was saved by Dons keeper
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