Rangers missed the opportunity to move level on points with leaders Celtic at the summit of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, although they survived the dismissal of Lee McCulloch to earn a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Aberdeen.

Rangers struck first when McCulloch crossed for Charlie Adam to score from close range, but the creator of that goal was then sent off for kicking out at Scott Severin as tempers boiled over following Chris Clark's crude challenge on Alan Hutton.

Aberdeen restored parity with the final play of the opening period when Lee Miller pounced after Allan McGregor could not gather Richie Byrne's cross, leaving Rangers two points behind Celtic, albeit with two games in hand.

After the game Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood criticised his side after they failed to take advantage of McCulloch's dismissal.

"I don't think we had the form of the day to go and win it," Calderwood told Setanta 1.

"We didn't deserve to win it. We didn't create too many chances and they had a couple when big Kris (Boyd) came on."

Aberdeen's 4-0 UEFA Cup victory over FC Copenhagen on Thursday raised expectations at Pittodrie.

But Calderwood said: "Looking back, it's probably a point gained because I don't think we had the pace in our game, our passing wasn't crisp.

"We've got a wee excuse maybe - Thursday night - but I didn't give them too much sympathy in the dressing room a minute ago."

Calderwood accused his side of being "sluggish" in the early stages of the clash and admitted they got little better once McCulloch went off.

"Our passing was woeful and we never really got going," he said.

"All credit to Rangers, they played well. I'm disappointed in my own team."

Rangers boss Walter Smith said: "It was a good point for us.

"I thought we were excellent overall and thoroughly deserved a point and possibly should have had three."

Smith stressed he had not seen the incident involving McCulloch which saw the Scotland midfielder ordered off.

But he criticised the match officials, particularly assistant referee George Drummond. Drummond raced over to deliver his verdict on the skirmish - which involved several players - to referee Kenny Clark.

"A strange situation just now is that we have bits where linesmen want to be referees now," Smith told Setanta 1.

"They're not happy for the referee to referee a game. That's the first time I've seen a linesman run 50 or 60 yards to tell the referee he has to send someone off.

"If the referee who's in a good position, possibly better than him, hasn't seen the incident, it has to go on. It seems rather strange that the linesman won't run for the ball so why should he run on the pitch and tell the referee that someone has to be sent off."

Smith added: "The referee won't speak to me, so at the end of the day I don't know what happened."

More news from SportingLife.com