win over Hearts at Ibrox this afternoon, but it
was a game that should have been comfortably won by
half-time, yet like so many others ended nervously for
the home side.
Manager Alex McLeish made one change from Aberdeen
with Gregory Vignal replacing Maurice Ross against a
visiting side featuring former Ranger Steven Pressley
as Captain and with Ibrox trialist Michael Stewart in
midfield alongside Lithuanian Saulius Mikoliunas who
was of course ordered off for an assault on Assistant
Referee Andy Davis when the two sides last met at
Tynecastle on 2 March.
Rangers went into today's game fully aware that
they had accumulated just one point in the last three
home games, but in front of a full house of 49,342
spectators they made the perfect start in just seven
minutes when a mazy run by Nacho Novo saw his chip
over goalkeeper Craig Gordon scooped off the line by
Andy Webster only for Thomas Buffel, following up, to
nod the ball over the line.
Paul Hartley's free-kick from a non-existent
foul had created all sorts of problems for Rangers at
Tynecastle, and from an almost identical
position in eighteen minutes Ronald Waterreus turned
his effort wide of the target.
Ten minutes later Dado Prso, released by a Novo flick,
was denied by a one-handed save from Gordon,
but from the rebound Webster tripped Buffel as he
prepared to slot home the loose ball. Incredibly
however Referee Charlie Richmond waved play on.
Gordon again rescued his side in 32 minutes, blocking
a Buffel shot from a Prso pass, but the Belgian
Internationalist was again impeded as he attempted to
move onto the rebound. Once again however the referee
waved play on, as it became all too obvious
that Rangers were paying the price of that late
Tynecastle penalty, the Light Blues not having
been awarded a single spot-kick since 2 March.
Rangers, comprehensively in command throughout the
first-half, finally made it 2-0 in 41 minutes when
Marvin Andrews stabbed Buffel's drive following
a Vignal corner home.
Two minutes later Barry Ferguson, driving forward from
midfield, saw his twenty-yard shot held by Gordon.
The Broomloan Road Stand was festooned with three
enormous banners at half-time in tribute to Bill
Struth, Davie Cooper and the Blue Order.
Three minutes after the restart a Vignal free-kick
found Buffel whose twenty-yard shot was held by
Gordon, but the Belgian came even closer in 64 minutes
when he struck the underside of the crossbar following
a cutback by substitute Shota Arveladze.
Mikoliunas was yellow-carded seven minutes later for
gesturing to the Rangers fans in the lower half of the
Govan Stand, and was promptly substituted. Indeed the
Lithuanian could consider himself fortunate to stay on
the park, having committed a blatant dive in the
penalty area minutes earlier.
Dado Prso departed to a standing ovation in 72
minutes, to be replaced by Steven Thompson, then seven
minutes later Buffel similarly was substituted by
Chris Burke as McLeish removed his two best players,
clearly believing the game to be won.
Hearts had scarcely threatened throughout the
second-half, although Vignal had to be alert in 75
minutes to scoop the ball away from Hartley, but
incredibly it was 2-1 six minutes later when Andrews
stabbed the ball into his own net following a Stewart
free-kick.
Sixty seconds later Rangers almost restored their
two-goal lead when Thompson dispossessed Webster only
to see his left-foot shot hit the crossbar, and again
in the final minute the substitute's header from
a Vignal cross was held by Gordon.
Rangers survived a nervous four minutes of injury time
to secure three priceless points, but the referee,
dreadful throughout, was booed as he left the field.
Afterwards Alex McLeish summarised:
"We had an excellent first-half, but were
nervous at 2-1. We dominated 90% of the game but it
lasts for ninety minutes, and a team can play well for
just five minutes and go away with something. We hit
the crossbar twice, and a third goal would have
finished Hearts off."
Tynecastle Boss John Robertson, who may have a matter
of days left in the job, was honest enough to admit:
"Rangers deserved to win."
RANGERS Waterreus; Ricksen, Andrews, Kyrgiakos,
Vignal; Novo, Ferguson, A. Rae, Lovenkrands (Arveladze
59); Buffel (Burke 79), Prso (Thompson 72)
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Malcolm, S. Smith, McCormack
HEARTS Gordon; Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Wallace;
Mikoliunas (Simmons 72), Hartley, MacFarlane, Stewart,
Hamill (Burchill 65); Miller (Wyness 45)
UNUSED SUBS Moilanen, Tierney, Sives, Pelosi
REFEREE Charlie Richmond