Soccer: Rangers easily win Cup as Aberdeen keeper Leighton stretchered-off
Saturday, 27 May 2000 21:34Rangers romped to the League and Cup Double with an easy victory over Aberdeen, who lost keeper Jim Leighton to injury at Hampden Park today.
Aberdeen finished bottom of the Scots Premier League and so it was never expected to last long as a contest, but less than two minutes defied even the wildest predictions as a serious injury to Jim Leighton turned the Scottish Cup final into a farce. Champions Rangers were 1-8 to win but those odds went off the scale as 41-year-old Aberdeen keeper Leighton, in the last game of his roller coaster career, suffered one final dip in fortune.
Leighton sustained a suspected broken jaw after a second-minute collision with Rod Wallace and Aberdeen, with no keeper listed among only three substitutes, were faced with a nightmare scenario.
Robbie Winters, a striker, came on as substitute and took to field wearing second choice Ryan Esson's shirt as a makeshift keeper. They survived the first half with only the loss of a Giovanni Van Bronckhorst strike after 35 minutes, but Rangers started the second half with a goal blitz of three strikes in five minutes.
Tony Vidmar struck first after 47 minutes with a shot from just inside the area, before Billy Dodds nodded in a third and Jorg Albertz thumped in a fourth to leave the Dons reeling.
Rangers, who finished 57 points higher than bottom club Aberdeen in winning the Scottish Premier League, might well have won regardless but may consider this something of a hollow triumph. Manager Dick Advocaat also failed to include a keeper among his three substitutes and today's non-event will surely prompt calls to the Scottish Football Association for a rule change.
