Wednesday night had a lot of potential for Rangers, but the Ibrox side were left with regrets and annoyance.
In a frantic 90 minutes, the Gers initially looked like title contenders, rushing to a two-goal lead against one of the best teams in the country.
Sadly for their supporters, however, things would quickly collapse, with the same worrying trends of last season emerging.
Gerrard lamented the mentality of his side in the second half, suggesting that they were struggling to deal with the way that the Dons started to combatively match them all over the pitch.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “It seemed like we couldn’t handle the pressure in the second half. We lacked a bit of experience.
“When you go 2-0 up, you expect your leaders to manage the game better – first and foremost to get to half-time 2-0 up, that’s the main thing. At half time we told them to reset – 0-0 clean sheet mentality, go and win the second half.
“But the tide turned, we couldn’t handle the pressure, we made mistakes and the defending wasn’t good enough. It’s disappointing.”
Hard done by?
It wasn’t just his team that Gerrard pointed the finger at, also criticising referee John Beaton for his failure to award a penalty after a challenge on Alfredo Morelos.
The Colombian was hauled down on the edge of the box, with replays suggesting it should have been a spot-kick instead of a free-kick.
The Rangers boss revealed a post-match conversation with Beaton in which the official apologised for getting it wrong. However, Gerrard remained unamused.
As quoted by The Scottish Sun, he said: “I have to be very careful what I say, obviously. But I don’t think there will be a more disappointed person outside of Rangers tonight than John.
“He has just explained to me that he got it wrong, right in front of his eyes, and there is no excuse. There is nothing more I can say on it to be honest.
“Did he apologise? Yes. I went to see him after the game.”
Where now for Rangers?
The fall-out for Rangers shouldn’t be too severe. After all, they did manage to earn a point. It wasn’t a completely disastrous result.
However, it was one of the few signs of weakness in Gerrard’s team this season and so is still notable.
On another night, it could have been the Ibrox side celebrating going top of the table, with Celtic relying on a dramatic late winner to pick up all three points against Hamilton.
The margins are tight when chasing trophies and the reigning champions found that edge to come through a poor performance as victors.
Dropping two points behind the Hoops isn’t the ideal start to a massive month but the beauty of football is that the Gers have a massive opportunity to right the wrongs of last night’s second half almost immediately.
A huge League Cup final against their city rivals looms and if they manage to pick up a result in that one then last night will quickly be forgotten.
The question is – can they climb that mountain?
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