Rangers 3 Hearts 1

By Jon West, PA Sport

A poacher's goal from Shota Arveladze sealed a 3-1 Ibrox win over Hearts in a Rangers performance that had swung from the breathtaking to the laborious.

The Georgian was first to the loose ball in the 70th minute after Antti Niemi, the former Rangers goalkeeper, had parried an effort from Claudio Caniggia.

It was his ninth goal in 10 games since joining the club earlier in the season from Ajax.

Rangers had made early goals a habit in previous months and Ronald de Boer notched one in the seventh minute to add to the tally.

Russell Latapy was the man who made it, using his close control and pace to run straight at the Hearts backline before slipping the ball through to the Dutchman.

Up went maroon-clad arms appealing for offside but the flag stayed down and de Boer had little difficulty slotting past the exposed Niemi.

A second goal arrived 13 minutes later and this time Latapy was the executioner.

The move started from defence where Tony Vidmar, making a rare start, supplied Caniggia, who sent de Boer clear down the left.

His cross might well have been aimed at Arveladze but it eluded both the Georgian and the Jambos defenders to reach Latapy on the other side of the area.

The Trinidadian's shot whistled past Niemi with a little help of a deflection off Stevie Fulton.

A comfortable home win over second-class opponents looked on the cards but Hearts were given a lifeline five minutes before the break with a goal that Gers goalkeeper Stefan Klos will want to forget.

The German has produced a number of top-class performances this season, just as he did last, but has also become vulnerable to the long-range free-kick, conceding vital goals that way in defeats to Celtic and Fenerbahce to name but two.

When Maurice Ross bundled Ricardo Fuller over some 25 yards from goal the danger was not too apparent.

But Kevin McKenna's thumped effort took a deflection off a defender and beat Klos low to his near post.

The first half also saw some near-misses, the majority of which were recorded by the home side.

First Arveladze and then de Boer, in the space of a few minutes, were off target from good positions and the Georgian went on to force Niemi into a near-post save.

But Hearts' goal was not entirely unexpected as a loose clearance from Vidmar had presented Tommi Gronlund with a shooting opportunity and he had been only just too high with his effort from the edge of the box.

Rangers went back on the attack after the restart and following a Ross shot that went wide, Fernando Ricksen forced Niemi into a diving save from even further out.

Hearts were not shy in coming forward and when Fuller ran at the home defence Arthur Numan brought him down.

It was a similar position to the first-half free-kick but this time Klos successfully pounced on McKenna's more measured, but less powerful, attempt to beat him.

Amoruso did well to get in a block after Thomas Flogel had turned Ross to set up a shooting chance and Rangers went on to clear the corner and score at the other end, in the 70th minute.

Vidmar did most of the legwork, making huge ground down the left flank before feeding Caniggia.

Caniggia played a one-two with Arveladze to go one-on-one with Niemi and although the Finn parried his shot, the Georgian was perfectly positioned to despatch the rebound.

It was game over for Hearts and Rangers manager Dick Advocaat sent on young midfielder Stephen Hughes, who was greeted with huge applause, and Neil McCann, for de Boer and Caniggia respectively.

Hearts made a double switch not long after, sending on Gary Wales and ex-Ranger Steven Boyack for McKenna and Fulton, but the change was merely cosmetic.

Hughes tested Niemi with a bouncing long-ranger and Boyack was needed to stop Arveladze turning Vidmar's cross into the net from close range.

Arveladze passed up a change to make it 4-1 with the last kick of the game but, having turned defenders in the box, fired over.

Teams:

Rangers: Klos, Wilson, Amoruso, Vidmar, Ross, Ricksen, Latapy, Numan, de Boer (Hughes 71), Caniggia (McCann 73), Arveladze.

Subs Not Used: Christiansen, Moore, Flo.

Goals: de Boer 7, Latapy 20, Arveladze 70.

Hearts: Niemi, Maybury, Pressley, McKenna (Boyack 74), Mahe, Flogel, Simmons, Gronlund (Kirk 85), Webster, Fulton (Wales 74), Fuller.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, McCann.

Goals: McKenna 40.

Att: 47,891

Ref: K Toner (Scotland).


Taken from sportinglife.com