Rangers 0 - 0 Hearts

Nothing ventured, nothing gained: an accurate assessment of Hearts' contribution to a mongrel of a match. A team that has won just once at Ibrox in a decade showed little inclination to confound the odds.

The last vestiges of elegance will be shorn when Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley depart Tynecastle and with them any aspirations of fulfilling Vladimir Romanov's hollow dream will vanish quicker than a mistrusted manager.

Rangers recorded their third consecutive shut-out under Walter Smith's instruction. David Weir and, to a lesser degree, Ugo Ehiogu, were reinforcing pillars but so parlous was the visitors' attacking endeavour, it is conceivable that Karl Svensson and Sasa Papac would have enjoyed just as comfortable an afternoon.

If Rangers have adopted an unpretentious approach after the problematic intricacies of Paul Le Guen's idealistic vision, Hearts have simply abandoned all flair. Valdas Ivanauskas declared himself vindicated both in team selection and tactical setup after leaving with a barely deserved point. That no inroads have been made into the five-point gap separating the two sides, as Aberdeen sneak into third place, reaffirms a diminishing ambition among the Lithuanian senate.

Hearts were only partly responsible for the kind of entertainment that would have made the traffic jams on the M8 seem enjoyable. The Blue Order unfurled a giant flag in honour of Jock Wallace.

Perhaps in memory of the big man, the Ibrox pitch resembled Gullane sands. All that was missing from Nacho Novo's excitable shift was a bucket and spade. Plodding donkeys have at least been relieved of regular duty, with one or two enforced exceptions.

The club intend re-laying the diseased surface in the summer but with Aberdeen now joining the race for second place, home is no longer an advantage to Rangers. Any hope of attractive football was shelved in favour of a more direct bombardment. This was a day for the Trojan qualities of Barry Ferguson and the undervalued ball retention of Brahim Hemdani, again flawless in midfield. It was not a day for Libor Sionko, but then it rarely is. Allan McGregor completed 90 minutes without a single save to make, or even a cross to flap at.

Hearts threatened a bruising encounter. If they were a heavyweight, they'd be Olivier McCall: imposing, intimidating but ultimately broken down. Roman Bednar and Andrius Velicka ought to have provided Weir and Ehiogu with a sterner test of their new partnership but Weir won more headers in the opening 15 minutes than his predecessors have managed all season. Ehiogu caused himself more problems than Velicka did. The 34-year-old has an impressive physique but the cumulative effect of two years of injuries has left him looking vulnerable to pace and lacking conviction.

Weir's reading of the game enabled him to sense and neutralise danger but it was invariably one-dimensional. A side that illuminated Scottish football in the first dozen games of last season, under George Burley, now has all the grace of a herd of wildebeest.

The goalscoring exploits of Rudi Skacel, the midfield majesty of Julien Brellier and the authority of Steven Pressley are consigned to the past and will be joined, probably within 72 hours, by Gordon and Hartley. They are an empty shell of a club but they coulda been contenders . . .

The first half was memorable only for its calamities. Ian Murray experienced intermittent colour-blindness, while the swirling wind and beach conditions made a mockery of many more. Sionko's most memorable contribution was squirting a sitter past the post from four yards out and at the centre of Steve Banks' goal. Somehow, he was trumped by Kris Boyd seconds later. Ferguson's effort fizzed across goal and from a shorter distance than Sionko, Boyd missed a glaring opportunity, albeit under pressure from Hearts' best player, Christophe Berra.

By an hour, the conditions had become farcical. Novo turned Marius Zaliukas inside out . . . and then fell over. Smith introduced Filip Sebo, to the audience's amusement, and Chris Burke in the hope of capitalising on their uncontested territorial supremacy. The breakthrough was slick, swift but ultimately shortlived. Novo and Burke combined quickly to set up Ferguson for a poacher's finish. The captain celebrated wildly but, amid the acclaim, he had already been flagged for being in advance of the last defender.

Weir almost headed a winner deep into added-on time but Ibrahim Tall preserved a point for Hearts, a laudable feat given the unfathomable handicap of playing without their only remaining gems, Gordon and Hartley. Aberdeen's win against St Mirren and Hibs' win against Motherwell has created congestion in the queue for second place but Ivanauskas refused to consider Saturday a missed opportunity.

"It was not an easy game, the pitch was, well, terrible," he said. "Why must I be frustrated with a point? It's not only Rangers and Celtic, there are other teams fighting for second place and Europe. I picked my team to get a result, the same as I did last week."

If only that were true, Valdas.

Taken from the Herald