It's Peter the great again

THE storm clouds lift, the storm clouds descend. The respective sides at Ibrox yesterday were unrecognisable from their earlier-season incarnations as Rangers' vibrancy was matched by Hearts' soullessness in a thoroughly convincing 1-0 victory for the home side.

A win delivered by a 35th-minute strike from the increasingly lethal Peter Lovenkrands, his recent scoring burst of five goals in three games having transformed the fortunes of Alex McLeish. For the first time since the opening games of the season, indeed, the Rangers manager can now reflect on back-to-back SPL wins.

How quickly the wheel turns. McLeish was considered a lame duck manager until history-making qualification to the Champions League knockout stages - which has paired them with Villarreal - was achieved under a fortnight ago. Last night, though, it was his Tynecastle opposite number, Graham Rix, who was in danger of becoming looked upon as a quack coach.

Although defeat by Rangers marked the first for Rix in his five weeks in charge, he has led his team to only one win in five attempts, harvesting a mere six points from a possible 16. Hearts retain second place and an 11-point advantage over their victors yesterday. But they appear a team in steep decline; a world apart from the very group of players that George Burley led to eight straight victories before being forced out by majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.

On a day when the only player contribution that Rix had cause to discuss was the needless tackle on Barry Ferguson that brought Saulius Mikoliunas an 85th minute red card, it was inevitable that the English coach would be asked if he felt under pressure.

"Not really," he said with an unconvincing shrug. "I want to win the games and I'm working hard with the lads. We discussed it a little after the game but, if you haven't got confidence and self-belief when you're near the top of the league, when are you going to have it?

"You are asking me if I'm under pressure but, because of their great start to the season and finding themselves at the top of the league with an undefeated run, they are finding there is pressure that goes with that."

Hearts keeper Craig Gordon revealed that the post-match post-mortem amounted to a "clear-the-air" meeting in which frank views were aired in exchanges led by the club's Scotland internationals. But Rix insists that he retains the backing of the dressing room. "You would have to speak to players about that - whether I'm saying the right things or doing the right things," he said. "But I think you would find that they can say positive things about the situation."

The Hearts coach lamented the fact that on a "great stage" his team had failed to "do themselves justice", but appeared to have sympathy for Mikoliunas over his enforced leaving of it. "If you know the guy, you'll know he couldn't tackle a fish and chip supper," Rix said.

McLeish, meanwhile, was able to digest the afternoon's events with understandable relish. Despite their recent ten-game winless run, Rangers have now recorded as many victories in their past ten league matches as Hearts. Yesterday was undoubtedly the sweetest of these.

"It was a good, organised and disciplined performance and the edge to the display was excellent," the Ibrox manager said. "We spoke before and said it's time to get the Champions League mentality and concentration back into the SPL games, and they gave us that. The players are getting their confidence back after being criticised and I'm glad they have reacted."

Attackers Chris Burke, Thomas Buffel and Lovenkrands proved the inspirations for Rangers' first home win in two months. McLeish declared winger Burke "exceptional" and described Buffel as "making up for lost time" - the Belgian's return to the side after two months out injured instrumental in the Ibrox side's mini-renassaince.

Lovenkrands' maxi-renassaince has been attributed to the Dane being out of contract next summer. After rejecting a new three-year deal on reduced terms, it is expected that he will move on at the end of the season. The future of the 25-year-old is far from cut and dried, however. The situation is on-going," McLeish said. "As his agent said last week, we're keeping it private, but will continue talking."

If Lovenkrands keep scoring, Rangers may come round to telling him what he wants to hear.

Taken from the Scotsman