Rangers 2 Hearts 1

By Jon West, PA Sport

Rangers came from behind to return to winning ways at Hearts' expense.

Goals from Shota Arveladze and Chris Burke wiped out an early advantage given to the visitors by Andy Kirk.

But although the result was an improvement on recent defeats by Panathinaikos and Dunfermline, the champions still had goalkeeper Stefan Klos to thank on a day when his young Hearts counterpart Craig Gordon was also excellent.

It also meant the advantage held by Celtic, who are at Motherwell on Sunday, was cut to five points.

Injury and suspension had robbed the visitors of three-quarters of their usual back line, with Steven Pressley, Andy Webster and Alan Maybury all absent.

Striker Mark de Vries was not fit enough to start either so Craig Levein's reshuffle saw midfielder Scott Severin at centre back and centre back Kevin McKenna reprise his occasional role up front.

But it was the home side who were all at sea in the 11th minute when Kirk was gifted the opening goal.

The warning signs had been there when the fit-again Arveladze had blocked a McKenna header on the line.

Rangers failed miserably to deal with the resulting corner and when the ball fell for Kirk right in front of goal he was able to squeeze the ball over the line with what looked like a mis-hit shot.

Mis-firing Michael Mols had already fired a good early chance across goal and wide and should have netted a 21st-minute equaliser when a through ball from Fernando Ricksen beat the offside trap.

The Dutchman was denied by a good block from Scotland Under-21 keeper Gordon but Arveladze was alive to the possibilities and headed the rebound smartly over a possee of back-tracking defenders.

Gordon then pulled off a fine save - by sticking out a boot at the last second - to deny Peter Lovenkrands, who had raced in to meet a Burke cross on the volley.

It seemed that the home side had at last gained control of the game but they soon showed their defensive problems, which saw Paolo Vanoli net a bizarre, defeat-condemning own goal at Dunfermline last week, were still there, even if the Italian was not.

A McKenna cross from the right was allowed to reach the unmarked Robert Sloan in the box and it needed a fine stop from Klos to keep the scores level.

Then, after Michael Ball had been booked for tripping Phil Stamp, Sloan swung the free kick on to Kirk's head only to see the striker head wide from touching distance of the back post.

There was still time in the first half for Gordon to enhance his reputation further with a fine parry of Arveladze's diving header, with Lovenkrands firing the rebound across goal and inches wide.

Severin was required to make a block right in front of goal to deny Mols five minutes after the restart after Arveladze had set up his strike partner.

Burke fired Rangers ahead two minutes later however after Lovenkrands had sent Mols away down the inside left channel and, with Severin trailing, the Dutchman's square ball across the box was easily converted by the little winger.

Burke showed his class to set Arveladze up in the box but this time the Georgian fired wastefully wide.

Stephen Hughes had taken a knock and was replaced by Maurice Ross in the 58th minute.

Rangers were once again indebted to Klos when he tipped a McKenna header from a Neil MacFarlane cross round his right-hand post to stop it looping into the top corner.

Patrick Kisnorbo was booked in the 66th minute for an obvious tug back of Lovenkrands and although Mikel Arteta's 25-yard free kick beat the wall Gordon was able to dive to pull off another fine save.

The Hearts fans cheekily sang that they wanted to see Vanoli and fellow substitute Nuno Capucho but it was Egil Ostenstad, the third of the trio of summer signings branded The Three Stooges by one critic, who came on for Mols with 15 minutes remaining.

The Norwegian had branded the pressure and hype associated with playing for an Old Firm club as "insane" the previous day and failed to win any new friends by heading an enticing Lovenkrands cross well over.

That was also the case when he headed a subsequent chance straight at the goalkeeper.

Hearts gambled on the giant de Vries' fitness for the final seven minutes, with Stamp making way.

No chances came his way however, although one did fall late on to fellow replacement Graham Weir - but Klos was once again equal to the shot.

There was still time for Robbie Neilson to fire goalwards at the death only to be denied by another quality Klos stop.

Teams:

Rangers Klos, Ricksen, Berg, Malcolm, Ball, Burke, Arteta, Hughes (Ross 58), Lovenkrands, Mols (Ostenstad 75), Arveladze.

Subs Not Used: McGregor, Vanoli, Capucho.

Booked: Ball.

Goals: Arveladze 22, Burke 52.

Hearts Gordon, Neilson, McKenna, Kisnorbo, McCann, Stamp (de Vries 82), Severin, MacFarlane, Sloan (Weir 79), Hartley, Kirk.

Subs Not Used: Moilanen, Simmons, Berra.

Booked: Kisnorbo.

Goals: Kirk 11.

Att: 49,592

Ref: H Dallas (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com