Hearts 1 Rangers 1

By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Hearts maintained their six-point lead over Rangers in the fight for second place in the Bank of Scotland Premier League after a 1-1 draw against the Light Blues at Tynecastle

In a compelling encounter which threatened to boil over on several occasions, Edgaras Jankauskas' ninth-minute opener for the Jambos had separated the sides until after the interval when Thomas Buffel converted a Chris Burke cross at the back post.

It was a fair result, although the point will be welcomed more by the home side who must see their first Champions League spot looming ever closer on the horizon.

Hearts' advantage over the third-placed Light Blues, which had been 16 points at one stage, had been whittled away to just six points over the past few weeks.

And on Friday Jambos' chairman and acting chief executive Roman Romanov, son of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, had, curiously, held a press conference to announce that second place could be perceived as failure this season.

What purpose that had served other than to put more pressure on head coach Graham Rix was debatable, but the Gorgie players seemed unaffected in what was a fighting performance.

There was a less than 100% response from the Rangers fans for the minute's applause before the game as a tribute to former Celtic and Scotland winger Jimmy Johnstone, who died last Monday from motor neurone disease.

However, the game began in wholehearted fashion, although a series of petty fouls interrupted the opening stages.

But it was the hungrier home side who took the lead in the ninth minute through Jankauskas.

Midfielder Deividas Cesnauskis skinned Rangers full-back Ian Murray on the right and sent Paul Hartley scampering down the wing, although he looked suspiciously offside.

When the Scotland international's cutback came into the six-yard box the big Lithuanian had the simplest of tasks of slotting the ball past Light Blues' keeper Ronald Waterreus from close range.

The Ibrox men responded positively but their midfield play, impressive as it was at times, never really looked like producing an end product although in the 22nd minute Hearts keeper Craig Gordon had to pull off a good save from a Peter Lovenkrands drive.

An enthralling and physical contest swung from end to end, with passion the driving force but if anything the Edinburgh men looked slightly the more dangerous.

Rangers had a disjointed look about them, especially in the final third while at the other end the strength of Jankauskas and Roman Bednar unsettled the visitors' defence.

In the 35th minute Lovenkrands sent his free-kick from 30 yards high over the bar, demonstrating the Ibrox side's apparent impotency.

With just two minutes to go before the interval, Burke skilfully gave Jambos stopper Andy Webster the slip wide on the right and flashed a cross into the Hearts six-yard box but found no takers and with that went their last chance of the first half.

A minute after the interval Bednar hammered a cross-cum-shot from wide right which had Waterreus flapping, but the game soon slipped back into its tetchy and antagonistic rhythm.

The Gorgie rearguard looked solid, repelling the Light Blues' tentative approaches with relative ease although they had Gordon to thank for a wonderful save in the 55th minute.

A Lovenkrands free-kick from 25 yards struck the Jambos defensive wall and broke to Buffel who turned and drove a shot which was goal-bound until the Scotland number one threw himself spectacularly to his right to palm the ball past the far post for a corner.

The Edinburgh men held firm from the resultant set-piece and moments later Rangers boss Alex McLeish replaced Lovenkrands with Kris Boyd in an attempt to get the equaliser.

Not that it was one-way traffic towards the Jambos goal, Cesnauskis and Jankauskas both had efforts which, admittedly, went wide.

But in the 64th minute Rangers got a deserved equaliser. Dado Prso set Burke up on the right and when the little midfielder's cross sped all the way to the back post Buffel was on hand to scramble the ball in despite the efforts of Gordon.

Rangers were in the ascendancy and for the first time Gordon was finding himself busy.

In the 68th minute, Pressley bulleted a Hartley corner over the bar from six yards to show the home side were far from happy to settle for a point.

In the 77th minute Burke missed a decent chance when he was set up by Boyd, slicing his angled shot from close range wide of the target.

Then Burke set up Buffel again with another fine cross but this time the Belgian sent his right-footed shot from 16 yards wide.

Still the excitement continued and in the 85th minute, a 35-yard snap-shot from Hearts full-back Robbie Neilson clipped the bar before going over.

Tynecastle took a breath for the first time in 90-plus minutes when the final whistle sounded.

Teams:

Hearts Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Fyssas, Cesnauskis,Hartley, Brellier, Skacel (Mikoliunas 86), Bednar (Elliot 76),Jankauskas.

Subs Not Used: Banks, Berra, Goncalves, Aguiar, Petras.

Booked: Hartley, Skacel, Brellier.

Goals: Jankauskas 9.

Rangers Waterreus, Hutton, Rodriguez, Kyrgiakos, Murray,Burke, Buffel, Ferguson, Hemdani, Prso (Novo 75),Lovenkrands (Kris Boyd 56).

Subs Not Used: Klos, Andrews, Ricksen, Namouchi, Smith.

Booked: Burke, Prso.

Goals: Buffel 65.

Att: 17,040

Ref: C Thomson (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com