Steven Gerrard's first league match as Rangers manager ended in a 1-1 draw after Aberdeen scored in second-half stoppage time to deny the visitors a famous victory.

Rangers, who were down to 10 men inside 12 minutes, recovered to take an unlikely lead before the break through a James Tavernier penalty.

However, following a scrappy second-half showing from both sides, 19-year-old substitute Bruce Anderson popped up for Aberdeen three minutes into injury time to rescue a point for Derek McInnes's team at the Pittodrie Stadium.

Chances were few and far between early in the game, and Alfredo Morelos's red card was the first real action of the tie. The Colombian appeared to kick out at an Aberdeen defender and was sent walking by referee Kevin Clancy.

The red card threatened to turn the tie into a bore-draw, with Rangers keeping Aberdeen at bay without advancing up the pitch themselves.

However, the game burst back into life on the half-hour mark when Jon Flanagan's excellent weaving run into the box led to Dominic Ball tugging the shirt of Josh Windass, for which Clancy then awarded a penalty to Rangers.

Tavernier stepped up and drilled the ball into the bottom corner, and Rangers had the lead against the run of play.

Aberdeen were stunned by the goal, but responded with the last action of the first half. Niall McGinn's deep cross looked to be heading for Sam Cosgrove at the far post, but Allan McGregor's tip over the bar ensured that Rangers kept their lead at the break.

The second half began slowly, with neither side producing worthy chances in the first 10 minutes. It was Rangers who looked more like scoring, though, with Windass seeing two chances blocked away by Joe Lewis.

From then on, Rangers were content with keeping their lead, while Aberdeen's only chance saw striker Lewis Ferguson head wide following a corner.

After six minutes of added time were signalled, however, Aberdeen pushed forward and eventually got an equaliser when Andrew Considine's header was left by Ferguson, before Anderson's shot beat McGregor into the corner.

Aberdeen (4-3-3): Lewis; Ball, Devlin, McKenna (Forrester, 31), Considine; Gleeson (May, 52), Shinnie, Ferguson, McGinn, Cosgrove (Anderson, 71), Mackay-Steven

Rangers (4-3-3): McGregor; Tavernier, Goldson, Katic, Flanagan; Coulibaly, Jack (Ejaria, 82), Arfield; Windass, Morelos, Murphy (Kent, 70)