Reggae Boy Kemar Roofe, whose season has been dogged with injury, fired Rangers into the final of the Scottish League Cup on Sunday, but then went off with a shoulder problem as his side defeated 10-man Aberdeen 2-1 after extra time.
The 30-year-old Roofe struck in the first period of extra time at Hampden after the game finished 1-1 in regulation time – his first goal of the season.
Michael Beale’s Rangers will return to Hampden for the final against league leaders and archrivals Celtic on February 26.
Kemar Roofe converted fellow substitute Scott Wright’s low cross into the bottom corner in the 94th minute to give Rangers the lead for the first time.
However, a shoulder injury in the 118th minute after falling awkwardly while challenging for the ball ended Roofe’s participation in what has already been an injury-ravaged season for the UK-born forward, who had been introduced on 74 minutes.
Manager Beale said of Roofe’s shoulder injury: “We won’t know until he has a scan tomorrow. It’s not a dislocation, it’s just a heavy landing.”
Beale said of the victory: “It feels great. Fair credit to Aberdeen, I thought they were excellent. I thought two teams went toe-to-toe and we’ve come out victorious. “I’ve had bad days here where we’ve played well, and I thought we were reasonable, and we were thorough.”
Aberdeen had led through Bojan Miovski’s clipped 41st-minute shot past goalkeeper Allan McGregor, but Ryan Jack’s deflected strike on 61 minutes had levelled things by the time Dons captain Anthony Stewart was sent off late in regulation.
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