In the opening minutes good work down the right by Ross McKenzie ended with his cross being headed over by Mark Cowan. At the other end a slack pass out of defence gave Steven Forbes a chance but he shot tamely past the post.
On 13 minutes Arvydas Novikas cut in from the left and his shot was deflected wide for a corner by Ross Perry. Two minutes later the same player had a powerful shot saved ay Arturs Vailculis. On the half-hour mark Rangers were reduced to ten man. Gregg Wylde who had been booked earlier, was late and rash with a challenge on Craig Thomson just outside the Hearts penalty area and was shown a straight red card.
On 34 minutes a Hearts corner was taken short to Craig Thomson at the edge of the box, his shot through a ruck of players and was easily saved by Vailculis. Two minutes later Hearts had the best chance of the first half, Thomson got to the byline and his cutback at the edge of the box was met by Johnathan Stewart but he failed to hit the target and the ball went wide.
Half-Time:- Hearts 0 Rangers 0
Two minutes in to the second half and Hearts missed a real chance to take the lead. A slack pass from Darren Cole, saw Paul Mulrooney carry the ball into the box and he looked certain to score, but his shot went past Vailculis's left hand post.
On 57 minutes Rangers took the lead, Kyle Hutton fed Archie Campbell on the right. He then played a one-two with Kane Hemmings and headed for the byline, he fired the ball low accros the six-yard box and under pressure from Stephen Stirling, Hearts defender Craig Thomson knocked the ball into his own net.
Fifteen minutes later it was 2-0, Kane Hemmings collected a pass from Kyle Hutton and found Archie Campbell at the right hand corner of the penalty area. With Hearts keeper Mark Ridgers possibly expecting a cross, he was beaten high to his left at the near post by Campbells powerful effort.
Rangers were now content to see out the 90 minutes and were rarely troubled. One last effort from Ryan Wallace saw him come in from the left passed a couple of defenders, Arturs Vailculis blocked his shot comfortably.
Full-Time:- Hearts 0 Rangers 2
Rangers Lineup: Arturs Vailculis; Darren Cole, Ross Perry, Danny Wilson, Gregg Wylde; Kyle Hutton; Archie Campbell (Scott Durie 85mins), Stephen Stirling, Steven Forbes, Kal Naismith; Kane Hemmings (Max Wright 82 mins).
Not Used:- Grant Adam, Isa Bagci, Kyle McAusland, Gordon Dick.
Hearts Lineup:- Mark Ridgers; Craig Thomson, Dylan McGowan, Conrad Blatoni, Jonathan Brown; Ross McKenzie ( Rocky Visconte 46mins), Paul Mulrooney, Jonathan Stewart, Steven Husband, Arvydas Novikas ( Ryan Wallace 73mins); Mark Cowan.
Many thanks for the report to Elfideldo - for more info on Rangers youth set-up read - http://rfcyouths.wordpress.com/