Last updated on .From the section Scottish Premiership

Rangers' eight-game home winning streak in the Scottish Premiership was ended by a superb Aberdeen defensive display.

Steven Gerrard's men struggled to prise the visitors open and now trail leaders Celtic by four points, having failed to win two of their last three matches.

The Pittodrie side left Ibrox with a deserved draw that could have been a victory had Sam Cosgrove converted a one-on-one in the first half.

Aberdeen move within three points of Motherwell in the battle for third.

Derek McInnes' team have now won just one of their last six league games, but will take huge encouragement from this performance.

Rangers lack creative spark

Rangers welcomed back top scorer Alfredo Morelos for his first start of the year after injury and suspension but the Colombian was kept in check by a well-drilled Aberdeen defence.

And when Morelos did give his markers the slip, Joe Lewis rescued Aberdeen with a terrific second-half save.

Aberdeen had been booed off in their last game, a dreary scoreless draw at St Mirren that extended their winless away run in the Premiership to five matches.

Yet they rose to the Ibrox occasion with relish. They had the better of the first half and should have led when Cosgrove galloped clear from halfway after dispossessing Nikola Katic.

The striker looked set to claim his 22nd goal of the season but a leaden touch knocked the ball too far and Allan McGregor raced out to gather at his feet.

McGregor had earlier tipped over a Lewis Ferguson header at full stretch as Aberdeen probed for an opener.

Rangers slowly began to gain a foothold and Steven Davis' strike forced Lewis to claw the ball away from his bottom corner, with the keeper then batting away a Scott Arfield header.

Rangers stepped up the pressure in the second half but it was possession with no cutting edge. Arfield had a shot deflected wide and Lewis repelled a Borna Barisic curling effort after superbly turning Morelos' close-range drive over the bar.

The hosts threw on new signings Ianis Hagi and Florian Kamberi in the closing stages to little effect.

Indeed, Aberdeen came closest to finding a breakthrough from Ash Taylor's thumping header that brought out the best in McGregor.

'Expect more title twists' - reaction

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard: "I think we are missing a spark in the final third. Not just today, over the four games we have come back. And we need to keep going because I believe there will be more twists and turns."

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes: "It wasn't perfect because we haven't won but it was a good performance. We certainly deserved the draw and I thought we had the best chances."