Derek McInnes highlights a Rangers issue and reveals change he was planning prior to winning goal

Derek McInnes got the result he wanted at Hampden, but he spent much of his post-match reaction on what bothered him. Ryan Naderi’s 83rd-minute winner beat Aberdeen 1-0 and sent Rangers into the Premier Sports Cup final, where they will meet Hearts or Hibernian. For a manager chasing his first trophy at the club just six months after leaving Hearts, that is a big step.

The performance was another matter. McInnes said the job was to reach the final “by hook or by crook”, and he admitted the first half left him frustrated. He felt his side were slow in moments when they needed to move the ball quickly. The numbers explain his unease. Rangers had 74% possession and 25 shots, but only five of those were on target. McInnes put that down to the inexperience of his young attack, and he was reportedly furious that Kevin Kelsy and Ryan Naderi failed to communicate during a disjointed display.

The most interesting detail came late on. McInnes revealed that he had been thinking about replacing Kelsy with Bojan Miovski just before the winning goal. It was Kelsy’s lung-busting run upfield, after an Aberdeen attack broke down, that led to the goal. Had the change come a minute earlier, the story might have been different, and it is a reminder of how fine the margins are in a cup semi-final.

There is still plenty to like. The win extended Rangers’ unbeaten run to 11 matches under McInnes, built on seven clean sheets and steady centre-half play from Olwethu Makhanya. Naderi has also grown in confidence and has stepped up while Lawrence Shankland and Youssef Chermiti are out.

With a final to prepare for, McInnes will want his forwards to be more clinical and communicate better. If they do, this Rangers side could be dangerous in December.