Rangers 1 Hearts 0

Ronald de Boer underlined his worth to Rangers for the second time in a few days with the goal that decided Sunday's match against Hearts.

But this 90 minutes was a far cry from the feast that was Tuesday night's Champions League demolition of Sturm Graz, when the Dutchman was a star performer.

Graz had quickly turned to spats as both clubs argued about whether the game should be played at all, with Hearts insisting they had insufficient time following a Thursday night UEFA Cup engagement in Germany.

The Edinburgh side clearly came to Glasgow intending to do Rangers no favours as it was immediately obvious from the kick-off that the weary Hearts players had come to defend and forage as best they could.

Defend they did but they were finally undone just before the hour mark when Tugay gave substitute Neil McCann the opportunity to run at the Hearts rearguard and he slipped the ball through to Billy Dodds.

Dodds was always destined to remain off the scoresheet on this occasion and former Rangers goalkeeper Antti Niemi blocked his shot.

But de Boer was there for the rebound and after steadying himself to make sure he could steer the ball past a defender who had appeared on the line, did just that.

It was to remain the only clear-cut chance of the half and the rest of the game served only as a prelude to Rangers clocking up three league points for the first time since August 19.

In an atmosphere that was a far cry from the cauldron of noise at Ibrox a few days earlier, the home side went close twice in the opening five minutes.

Dodds was the man involved on both occasions when he planted a header wide from a good position, although he could legitimately claim de Boer's unsuccessful leap for the same cross had left him unsighted.

Dodds was then inches away from claiming a freak goal two minutes later when de Boer's shot deflected off him and beyond the unsuspecting Niemi but past the post as well.

Hearts were leaving ex-Ranger Gary McSwegan to fend for himself up front for the most part but it needed Stefan Klos to deny him in the box when a rare counter-attack ended with a cross on to his head.

McSwegan was needed at the other end to shepherd away a Dodds header at the foot of the far post as the home side toiled away against a wall of white and maroon shirts.

The visitors' attitude was summed up perfectly when Steven Pressley robbed Dodds to surge over the halfway line only to find himself the only member of his side to be in the opposition half.

That attack did not last long but Spanish winger Juanjo showed his team-mates how it should be done when he revealed excellent close control to skip past first Jorg Albertz and then Lorenzo Amoruso to get inside the six-yard box.

Klos denied him on that occasion and, apart from a Dodds goal that was ruled out for offside, that was the closest the game got to a score until first-half stoppage time.

That was when Bert Konterman got on the end of a Giovanni van Bronckhorst free-kick to plant a header that looked goalbound all the way, but Niemi excelled himself to deny his former team once more with a reflex save of the highest order.

Beforehand Rangers manager Dick Advocaat's large squad had given him the luxury of being able to make three seamless changes from the side that destroyed Sturm Graz.

Michael Mols was rested, presumably with Wednesday night's rendezvous in Monaco in mind, allowing Dodds to return.

Claudio Reyna's groin problem gave Fernando Ricksen another chance to establish his credentials at right-back and with Barry Ferguson completing the two-match ban he earned with his red card at Celtic, Tugay once again stepped in to a midfield berth.

Hearts manager Jim Jefferies on the other hand had to do without one of his more influential players, Scott Severin, after he picked up an injury in Thursday night's 1-0 defeat in Stuttgart.

But the weary Jambos, whose worries over sufficient preparation time for this fixture were made more acute when their flight was delayed in Germany, were boosted by being able to name skipper Colin Cameron in the starting line-up even though he had been stretchered off at the end of that first-leg tie.

There was a perfectly-observed minute's silence before kick-off in memory of former Rangers great Bob McPhail, who died last month.

Teams:

Rangers: Klos, Ricksen, Konterman, Amoruso, Numan, Johnston, Tugay, van Bronckhorst, Albertz (McCann 45), de Boer (Miller 86), Dodds (Vidmar 76).

Subs Not Used: Lovenkranes, Charbonnier.

Booked: Numan, Ricksen.

Goals: de Boer 58.

Hearts: Niemi, Flogel, Pressley, Petric, Naysmith, Simpson, Murray, Fulton, Cameron, Juanjo (Jackson 86),McSwegan (O'Neil 75).

Subs Not Used: Rousset, Kirk, Neilson.

Booked: Simpson.

Att: 47,340

Ref: H Dallas (Scotland).


Taken from sportinglife.com