A resilient Aberdeen came from behind to deny 10-man Rangers in a fiery Premiership clash at Pittodrie.
Lewis Ferguson's second-half penalty cancelled out an early opener from Ianis Hagi before Ryan Kent was dismissed for a second booking in the closing stages.
It was a largely attritional encounter in the Granite City, with quality too often in short supply in the final third, but one littered with talking points and drama.
A draw marks the first dropped Premiership points of Giovanni van Bronckhorst 's reign and keeps Celtic within four points of the champions following victory over Hibs on Monday night.
Stephen Glass ' side may well feel they deserved more - they limited the champions to very little going forward and dominated much of the possession and territory.
And they felt they were denied an earlier spot-kick when Allan McGregor and Ryan Hedges collided with the Dons star racing through one on one.
But they couldn't find a late winner despite Kent's dismissal and were forced to settle for a hard-earned point.
Teams will look for something to settle them on these occasions, but a very early booking for Hagi followed by a Teddy Jenks shot slamming against Allan McGregor's post was a far from ideal start for the visitors.
Jenks had another go from near identical range not five minutes later, but this time his low effort was smothered by the Rangers keeper.
It was symptomatic of a shaky start for the reigning champions, who survived claims for a Dons penalty when Ryan Hedges collided with the onrushing McGregor after a high ball over the top sent him through.
The sense of injustice among the Aberdeen support - and bench - was compounded within seconds, however, as the ball hit the net at the other end.
Scott Wright's switch found Ryan Kent on the left, and when Joe Lewis failed to move from his line to gather his in-swinging cross, Hagi was there to divert home from six yards.
It was to be the only goal of a largely scrappy first-half, punctuated by fouls and a dearth of serious quality on both sides.
Aberdeen may just feel they had the better of it, but a teasing ball across the face of McGregor's goal that went unmet was all they really mustered following Hagi's opener.
Scott Brown, typically, found his way into the book for a robust challenge on Kent, and there were a few customary skirmishes with Alfredo Morelos.
The Aberdeen captain was never far from the action and he volleyed over inside the box as proceedings restarted,.
The teams had enjoyed 15 minutes to regroup but were serving up more of the same, typified by one almost comical exchange that saw players hitting the deck left, right and centre.
An early switch to Kent became an occasional feature of Rangers' play, perhaps to bypass the rough and tumble in tight areas, and while the winger did look the most likely even he succumbed to the errors strewn throughout proceedings.
Kent certainly had Calvin Ramsay troubled but couldn't find an end product - kicking the turf and face-planting to the deck on one occasion.
The longer the game stuttered along at 1-0, the more likely it felt Aberdeen's persistence would yield results.
And so it proved as Ferguson's header struck the arm of Morelos and this time Clancy did not hesitate in pointing to the spot.
Ferguson himself stepped up to send McGregor the wrong way and suddenly the game came alive.
Rangers summoned a threat from somewhere - a Morelos volley provoked a smart save from Lewis when the ball looked bound for the top corner.
But their attempts at gathering momentum were cut short when Kent was shown a second yellow for a foul on Brown which, on repeat viewing, appeared a harsh decision from the official.
That swung the impetus back towards the home side but, despite plenty of hustle and bustle, they couldn't grind out a late winner.
3 talking points
Rangers stutter, Dons persist
There can be little argument that Rangers got what they deserved here.
Despite leading for long spells, the Premiership leaders were never really in control of this match and rarely looked like adding a decisive second.
It culminated in the first dropped points of the Van Bronckhorst era, albeit in one of the toughest fixtures of the campaign.
Tough, on this occasion, because Aberdeen made it so.
This is a Dons side that aspires to be more expansive and they did dominate the ball for considerable periods, whilst also limiting Rangers to very little at the other end.
The Hedges-McGregor incident
You're not likely to find much accord between Aberdeen and Rangers fans on this question, but the debate will rage on regardless.
It's an excellent diagonal ball from Hayes that has the away side turning on their heels and creates a serious problem for McGregor, who is beaten to the ball by Hedges.
The question then is whether the keeper wipes his man out, and there's one angle that very much appears to show McGregor catching Hedges' leg on the way past as he makes a leap for the ball.
Given the speed of the exchange, the contact was certainly enough to send the Aberdeen man tumbling and it would've been hard to argue had the referee pointed to the spot.
Either way, the Dons eventually got what they felt they deserved from 12 yards.
Shifting Sands
Barring a debut against Celtic, there was perhaps no tougher ask of the new recruit from New York City to begin life as a Rangers player.
This is among Scottish football's most unforgiving encounters and Sands was immediately pitched against a Dons midfield loaded with the experience of Brown and the physicality of Lewis Ferguson.
It'll take Sands some time to fully acclimatise to his new surroundings but the intensity levels won't climb much higher than this.
The 21-year-old was on the periphery at times, especially as the game progressed and Rangers seemed to drop deeper.
Sands looks capable and tidy in possession, picking some neat forward passes and showing composure in possession, but this will be a debut he won't forget in a hurry.
