WHEN Alex Ferguson, then in his ascendancy with Aberdeen, called his autobiography A Light In The North, he could hardly have imagined the day when Glasgow Rangers would go to Pittodrie and snuff it out as perfunctorily as a choirboy tidying up after evening service.

The most puzzling aspect of this match was how it took Rangers so long to translate their superiority into an eloquent scoreline. Having eased into the lead with a slightly lucky goal in the 37th minute, they created enough opportunities to have given Nicky Walker lumbago picking the ball from his net.

In the second half particularly, Aberdeen were so outmanoeuvred that their first shot on target - and Andy Goram's first save of the match - did not arrive until the 88th minute. By then Brian Laudrup had imposed himself as damagingly as only he can, scoring one and laying the foundations of the other two.

Laudrup began the demolition, with a low centre from the left to David Robertson, whose poor, first touch simply miscued the ball into the air. Walker dived away from the action in anticipation of a clean hit and the ball seemed to screw over the line after hitting the post.

Laudrup was allowed to score when Walker ran 25 yards from his goal for a through pass from Charlie Miller. The Dane was always favourite, simply chipped the ball into the empty net. Walker was culpable again when Ally McCoist, from Laudrup's pass, drove the ball straight at him and he allowed it to rebound from his chest to Miller, who also had an open target from eight yards.

Rangers, however, will be without German midfielder Jorg Albertz and Swedish defender Joachim Bjorklund for their final Champions League match against Auxerre in France on Wednesday. They were both injured in yesterday's match. They are also without Paul Gascoigne.