Gers 2 Jambos 0

Games against Hearts never seem to be classics, unlike their games against Celtic where you get goals everywhere you look. Maybe there's a more intensive rivalry between Celtic and Hearts, the way we have our rivalry with Aberdeen.

Anyway, as I was saying, Hearts don't impress me when they play Rangers. Every time I watch Julien Brellier against Rangers he plays the same game; fouling at every opportunity. Yesterday, Jeremy Clement was all over him. Brellier couldn't get to play his part and was booked after a high boot pulled his countryman Clement to the ground.

Le Guen kept faith in his 4-2-3-1 formation but replaced Alan Hutton, Charlie Adam, Thomas Buffel and Libor Sionko with Phil Bardsley, Chris Burke, Kris Boyd and Lee Martin.

To me it appeared that Hearts started with a 3-4-3 but left-back Takis Fyssas, a surprise inclusion after being replaced early doors in a midweek international, would regularly track back to play in his more suited defensive role.

The young Martin on the left wing was outstanding. He has been dubbed The new Beckham but played more like Cristiano Ronaldo, cutting inside and out, although rarely getting past Robbie Neilson.

Chris Burke on the right hand side of midfield was also a handful for the Hearts defence. His trickery, added with his pace, was too much for Fyssas to handle, so much so that he won numerous free-kicks. The only problem there was that every dead ball in towards the big men such as Prso, Svensson and Rodriguez, Craig Gordon, the best goalkeeper this country has seen since Andy Goram was in the Hearts goal and never looked like conceding.

Lee Martin however had numerous chances to score or create a goal. With the long balls to chase from Svensson and Rodriguez he sometimes looked like chasing a lost cause, but his lightning quick pace carried him down the pitch, and his silky touches ripped Saulius Mikoliunas inside out.

The Lithuanian was another Hearts player who couldn't handle the young Englishman and had to bring him down several times before he could get a chance to shoot.

The only notable chance of the first half was when Dado Prso was played through on goal. The Croat striker beat the Hearts keeper to the ball but couldn`t get it past him. Both men collided and the ball broke to Kris Boyd, you would expect the big man to rip the net off the goal but the ever reliable Hearts defender Neilson was there to block Boyd's shot off the line.

Twenty seconds or so into the second period and suddenly Neilson was not so reliable, Lee Martin's pass sent Dado Prso into the Hearts penalty area where Neilson brought down the Rangers captain. Referee Kenny Clark awarded a penalty which striker Kris Boyd stepped up to take.

Boyd, 39 goals last year, had been quoted by several newspapers stating his desire to play from the start. He was given his chance by the manager, and sent Craig Gordon the wrong way from 12 yards.

Only two minutes later and Neilson was the bad guy again, bringing down Lee Martin just outside the area. Martin delivered a cracking ball, flicked on by Svensson, but buried by Boyd.

From then on, the game was as good as over. Phil Bardsley, the on-loan recruit from Manchester United was involved in a tackle which left him hobbling throughout the game for around ten minutes before he was replaced by Alan Hutton.

Filip Sebo and Thomas Buffel also came on for Rangers, with Kris Boyd and Chris Burke making way. Hearts also rang the changes, with Michal Pospisil coming on for Roman Bednar before having to be replaced by Neil McCann while Paul Hartley came on for Mikoliunas. None of the substitutes were able to make an impact in the game.

Robbie Neilson, unable to cope with Lee Martin as the game progressed, was sent off after two similar bookable offences.

There was one final incident in the game, where it appears Takis Fyssas either grabbed or pushed a ball boy. The incident resulted in the Greek defender getting booked, whether or not Kenny Clark will report the incident to his employers, or a spectator report it to a policeman is unclear, but the defender is experienced enough to know not to interfere with the crowd, especially a 50000 strong partisan crowd at Ibrox.

So Rangers stay unbeaten and moved to the top of the league, the first time since day one of last season. Let`s hope it continues until the end of this year.