Romanov selling his stars but Hearts stand firm

James Stirling at Ibrox
Sunday January 28, 2007
The Observer

Rangers maintained both their unbeaten record under Walter Smith and a five-point advantage over Hearts in pursuit of Champions League football next season, but their manager would be unable to avoid a feeling of frustration that they failed to win a match they monopolised for lengthy periods.

This pivotal battle of two of the clubs scrapping it out to be best of the rest behind runaway leaders Celtic seldom reached any great heights, but was always absorbing enough to hold the interest of the shivering spectators on a bone-chilling afternoon in Govan.

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Not for the first time since Vladimir Romanov took control of their club, the Hearts supporters arrived at a match to discover some startling news by way of the team sheet. Goalkeeper and captain Craig Gordon and midfielder Paul Hartley were left out as it emerged they are among five players Romanov plans to sell before the transfer window closes tomorrow night.

Robbie Neilson, Julien Brellier and Michal Pospisil are the others, but it is the imminent departures of Scotland internationals Gordon and Hartley that will cause most anxiety among fans.

Gordon's deputy, the former Gillingham keeper Steve Banks, was quickly called into action in a match the visitors could scarcely afford to lose if they wished to retain any realistic hope of finishing second. In fairness, the Englishman has always been a more than capable stand-in for Gordon and he proved his worth again with an agile leap to touch over David Weir's volley from a Charlie Adam corner.

Rangers were the more eager and threatening side in the first half and Czech winger Libor Sionko, rather surprisingly recalled to the starting line-up at the expense of Chris Burke, should have put them in front after 10 minutes when he blazed a shot over after being neatly set up by Barry Ferguson.

Hearts were forced to rely on set pieces to cause any great concern for the home defence. Bruno Aguiar, who had taken Hartley's central-midfield role, forced Allan McGregor into a decent save with a well struck free-kick, while the Rangers keeper was subsequently relieved to see Roman Bednar fail to get enough power on a near-post header from Andrew Driver's corner.

Rangers were carving out more clear-cut chances, but managing to miss even the simplest of them. Sionko contrived to shoot wide from two yards out, then the Hearts goal somehow remained unbreached when Banks made an instinctive close-range save from Ferguson, before Christophe Berra's challenge prevented Kris Boyd netting the rebound.

Hearts tried to adopt a more positive approach at the start of the second half and young Driver should have made more of their best passing movement of the match when he latched on to Andrius Velicka's clever back-heel on the edge of the area and wastefully scooped his shot over.

Rangers soon regained the initiative, but although they penned Hearts into their own half for long spells, they struggled to find any gaps in the visitors' well organised defence. One terrific pass from Adam did manage to split the Hearts backline, but Banks was able to force Ferguson wide of goal to snuff out the danger.

Ferguson did put the ball in the net with 12 minutes remaining, side-footing substitute Burke's cross beyond Banks from close range but, to a combination of bewilderment and anger from the home team and their supporters, the effort was ruled out for an offside that was not obvious.

A stunning one-handed save by Banks to keep out a close-range Ferguson header was rendered irrelevant by another offside flag and even four minutes of stoppage time were not enough for Rangers to plunder a winner they would have deserved.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer