It is hard to imagine Buffel and Lovenkrands getting the chance to play together if everyone was available, but these two have given Rangers the cutting edge they lacked. We know Lovenkrands is a threat because of his pace, but he needs the right player next to him to use that. Buffel works because he drops off the front line and takes defenders with him. That leaves space for Lovenkrands to run into. Playing like this the Danish striker will get in behind defences and at the moment he looks like scoring when he does. After being so unreliable for McLeish in the past his run of five goals in three games is not enough to dictate the terms of a new contract, but his manager will be happy to see it continue until the summer, when his current deal runs out. If these two keep it going then even Prso, who was Rangers’ best player earlier this season, should not dislodge this unlikely double act.

Let’s not get carried away, there are limits to what Rangers can do without a serious turnover of players, but yesterday the result was never in doubt after they scored. In the middle Julien Brellier and Paul Hartley did not get close to Bob Malcolm and Barry Ferguson, who drove his team on relentlessly. The best player for Rangers though was Chris Burke, who lost Jamie McAllister, the Hearts left-back playing because Takis Fyssas was at his wife’s side for the birth of their child.

Can these players take Rangers past a favourable Champions League draw? Not without some shrewd moves in January. David Murray has backed McLeish and McLeish has made significant improvements in the games against Inter Milan, Kilmarnock and Hearts. However, the starting point was so low that the end result is not that spectacular and certainly not good enough for the last 16 of the Champions League. You cannot rely on players as inexperienced as Burke to carry the fight in Europe. Rangers need to lose some of the deadwood and sign six players who, halfway through the season, are still under contract. That is going to take more than kind words. Murray has to put a pound sign on the trust he has in his manager.

If Rangers do not overhaul their squad in January I cannot see them progressing in Europe and the championship is long gone. If Celtic win today they will be 17 points ahead and just won’t lose the number of games they would need to for Rangers to have a shot at it, even if McLeish’s team won every match they have left. A more realistic aim is to continue the steady progress that the team has displayed over the last three matches. If they do that and improve the side in the transfer window then they will start putting the majority of the teams in the Premierleague away with the regularity they were used to before this season. That may be enough to get second place and a Champions League position next season, which is incredibly important for the Ibrox club.

That would be a good recovery from the position they were in and I’m afraid Hearts might not be able to stop them. They just did not play yesterday. They have lost the spark they carried at the start of the season and they struggle when Hartley and Rudi Skacel don’t score because their strikers, Roman Bednar and Edgaras Jankauskas, are not doing it and Ronald Waterreus only had two soft saves to make against them. Their great start now seems a long way back and I blame one man for that. Vladimir Romanov oversaw the break-up of the management team that had Hearts flying and he should take the blame for their slump.

If that was the best of the competition then Celtic may run away with the championship in what had the makings of a classic race two months ago. These two teams looked a long way off the pace, but at least Rangers are moving in the right direction.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk