Hearts 0 Rangers 1

By Lisa Gray, PA Sport

A late Nacho Novo strike handed Rangers a crucial win at Tynecastle and plunged crisis club Hearts deeper into turmoil.

It was a game both teams were desperate to win and the victory allowed Gers to strengthen their grasp on second spot in the Bank of Scotland Premier League.

Despite a thrilling show on the park - which saw seven yellow cards dished out by referee Dougie McDonald - events off the field threatened to overshadow the game.

Chants of "there's only one Steven Pressley" rang out around Tynecastle, but his Hearts future was no clearer ahead of the game.

Pressley has kept a dignified silence all week, but fans will fear he could be set for a January departure after failing to reclaim his place in the starting XI on Sunday.

He missed their last game amid reports of a plot to strip him of the captaincy and was named on the bench for the clash.

Christophe Berra had deputised for the inspirational skipper at Falkirk and the captain's armband this time went to Paul Hartley, further adding to the confusion at Tynecastle.

With fans threatening to stage a protest after the game, it was unclear whether majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov made the trip to Edinburgh from his Lithuanian base for the match.

And another week of drama and turmoil at Hearts meant it almost went unnoticed that Rangers were themselves also a club in crisis ahead of the match.

They were desperate to build on last week's win over Dunfermline after a string of poor results forced Ibrox chairman David Murray to publicly back manager Paul Le Guen after just four months in the job.

With catching SPL leaders Celtic now an unrealistic aim for both clubs, they were well aware that this game could have a massive impact on the race for second spot.

Hearts could have taken an early lead when Jamie Mole nodded into the path of Andrius Velicka, who was not far away with a searing long-range drive.

Novo then tested Craig Gordon with a blasted effort, which forced a decent save from the Hearts goalkeeper.

Hearts were edging Rangers in terms of chances and goalkeeper Allan McGregor was left with stinging palms thanks to a thunderous 35-yard strike from Julien Brellier.

But Gers still looked capable of snatching the lead before the break.

Barry Ferguson raced into the box only to find he had no support and, forced to go it alone, the Ibrox skipper shot well over.

Dado Prso then whipped the ball across the face of goal to Novo, but the diminutive striker just failed to connect at the near post and the chance was lost.

Prso himself could have had the net bulging just before the break, only to stab wide of a gaping goalmouth.

McGregor was called into action within seconds of the restart to block a Velicka effort at the back post.

It was also proving to be a busy afternoon for Hearts keeper Gordon, who was forced to pull off a good save to deny Ferguson.

Tensions threatened to boil over when Novo was booked for a kick at Marius Zaliukas, before a missile was aimed at Gordon from the Rangers support.

The Jambos keeper recovered to make a superb point-blank stop to deny Kris Boyd a few yards from goal.

The breakthrough finally came after 78 minutes when Rangers surged into the lead.

Ferguson latched onto a long ball from Steven Smith before releasing Novo through on goal.

The Spanish hitman then left Gordon with no chance with a powerful drive from 25 yards to clinch the victory and send the travelling Gers fans into ecstasy.

Teams:

Hearts Gordon, Barasa, Berra, Tall, Zaliukas, Aguiar,Brellier, Wallace (Goncalves 48), Hartley, Velicka,Mole (Mikoliunas 60).

Subs Not Used: MacDonald, Pressley, Neilson, Jankauskas,

Karipidis.

Booked: Zaliukas, Hartley.

Rangers McGregor, Hutton, Svensson, Hemdani, Smith, Novo,Ferguson, Adam, Clement, Kris Boyd, Prso.

Subs Not Used: Klos, Buffel, Papac, Rae, Sionko, Sebo, Martin.

Booked: Hutton, Clement, Novo, Smith, Kris Boyd.

Goals: Novo 78.

Att: 17,040

Ref: D McDonald (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com