A defensive clanger by Aberdeen defender Thomas Solberg gifted Rangers three vital points at Pittodrie.

The match had been poised at 1-1 at half-time before Solberg allowed Ronald de Boer to rob him. Michael Mols accepted an easy chance from de Boer's pass to notch the decisive goal.

Aberdeen had taken an early lead through Arild Stavrum but Kenny Miller equalised before the break to re-emphasise his reputation as the hottest striker in Scottish football.

The home side had gone 405 minutes without goal before this match but needed little more than 240 seconds to end that drought as Rangers began a defensive performance that for the first half was as bad as it gets.

Without finding yourself five down and out of the game that is, and Aberdeen were left rueing letting their opponents off the hook once the final whistle blew.

In the end, Ebbe Skovdahl's team went in at the break having scored just that one goal, Stavrum's stabbed finish from Kevin McNaughton's cross from the right.

The recalled Norseman nipped in ahead of Lorenzo Amoruso and Scott Wilson with such ease that it was clear Rangers' defensive problems were far from over.

And so it proved with Amoruso and Bert Konterman continually giving the ball away.

Derek Young saw a flash header from his brother Darren's cross saved by Jesper Christiansen as Rangers hung on somehow.

Kaiserslautern boss Andreas Brehme was in the crowd on a UEFA Cup spying mission and must have been loving what he was seeing.

The malaise also spread upfield with the normally touch-perfect Mols letting the ball run out of play through his feet.

Then he sent a pass meant for de Boer out of play as the champions looked in complete disarray.

But Miller had other ideas and fired his side's first shot in anger in the 24th minute, forcing Ryan Esson into a good save.

Esson had to repeat the trick when an Amoruso shot from a free-kick move was deflected towards the bottom corner and Rangers duly equalised with a goal of true, and on such a night entirely unexpected, quality.

Mols turned Derek Whyte to set up Miller for a rasping left-foot shot into the bottom corner and that took the youngster's amazing scoring record to nine in the five starts he has been given so far.

He even has another goal on his tally, one from coming off the bench against Kilmarnock, and the whole of Scotland awaits what he can do against Australia in Wednesday night's Hampden friendly.

Still, it was a shocking first-half performance defensively and Amoruso and Konterman were both booked for chopping down quicker opponents.

Stavrum claimed a penalty when he went down under Barry Ferguson's challenge and he spurned a late chance when Robbie Winters' clever quick free-kick set him up for a finish that deserved better than a total miskick.

But the second half was a different story once Solberg had gifted Rangers the lead, allowing himself to be dispossessed by de Boer collecting a short goal kick.

De Boer's ball to Mols bypassed Esson and despite a man on the line Mols had no trouble finding the net.

Derek Young, who had earlier been booked for an over-zealous challenge, repeated the offence on Wilson and was sent off to leave his team-mates to play the final 20 minutes a man down.

It summed up the way the balance of the game had tilted away from the home side. And crucially, despite the odd nervy moment, Rangers no longer looked vulnerable at the back.

In the end Rangers just about shaded it and will hope that achieving success after a pitiful start sums up their entire season as well as this one game.

Rangers had made a single change from the team that was dumped out of the Champions League on Tuesday, with Konterman returning from suspension in place of fellow Dutchman Arthur Numan.

Aberdeen made three changes from the side that lost 3-0 to Hearts last week, bringing in the Scandinavian trio of Stavrum, Solberg and Cato Guntveit for Mark Perry, Jamie McAllister and Eoin Jess, whose back problem had earlier ruled him out.