David Weir urges team-mates to forget Hearts

By Jamie Murdoch
Last Updated: 1:17am BST 17/09/2007

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Hearts (2) 4 Rangers (0) 2

David Weir has urged Rangers not to dwell on the defeat at Hearts which knocked them off top spot in the Scottish Premier League. The veteran defender insists the Ibrox club must look ahead to Wednesday's Champions League match against Stuttgart.
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Rangers have been drawn in the so-called 'group of death' with Lyon and Barcelona, as well as the German champions, and know victory in their opening match is essential before facing the Group E heavyweights.

Yesterday's 4-2 mauling was hardly the ideal preparation but Weir said: "We need to get back playing, address it, and put the wrongs right. There are a lot of things we would like to change if we could but we can't. We've got to look to the future now."

Horrendous defending in the first 25 minutes gave Hearts a comfortable lead through Andrew Driver and Ibrahim Tall, before Daniel Cousin hauled Rangers back into the game from the penalty spot early in the second half.

Michael Stewart restored Hearts' two-goal advantage, also from the spot, before Kestutis Ivaskevicius put the game beyond the visitors.

A late strike from DaMarcus Beasley could not prevent Rangers from slumping to their first defeat of the campaign.

Asked whether the reverse was a wake-up call for the younger players in the team, Weir replied: "It's a timely reminder for everyone. We were out-fought and out-battled at times."

Weir was one of several players who had been involved in Scotland's gruelling Euro 2008 qualifiers over the last 10 days but insisted: "I'm not one to make excuses and I'm sure no-one else would make excuses.

"I don't think it was relative to the international games, I think it was just a bad performance from us and a good performance from them."

One player who was given a rest following his exertions in Paris was skipper Barry Ferguson and Weir defended manager Walter Smith's decision to name the influential midfielder on the bench.

"We have lots of games coming up so everybody will be missing games," said Weir. "That's the nature of playing for Rangers. We have a squad of 24 or 25 players so everyone is not going to play every week.

"Barry is a top player and you always want him in your team but, of course, there are going to be occasions when he is not there."

Meanwhile, Hearts goalkeeper Steve Banks has revealed how a few "home truths" following their 5-0 thrashing against Celtic helped transform the Edinburgh club.

"After the Celtic game, we had to go back to basics, sit down and discuss a few things with each other and tell each other a few home truths," he said. "We had a few meetings with the players and the staff and came out with an idea of what we wanted to do.

"We've got the team bonding going, we've been positive about it and we have taken it into the last three games."

Match details

Hearts: Banks, Neilson, Tall, Berra, Wallace, Kingston, Zaliukas (Palazuelos 72), Stewart, Driver (Ivaskevicius 49), Ksanavicius, Nade (Elliot 76).
Subs: Kurskis, Pospisil, Kancelskis, Karipidis. Booked: Neilson, Stewart, Ksanavicius.
Goals: Driver 13, Tall 27, Stewart 66 pen, Ivaskevicius 70.
Rangers: McGregor, Hutton, Weir, Cuellar, Papac, Whittaker, Beasley, Thomson, Faye (Darcheville 46), Boyd (Ferguson 46), Cousin (Novo 77).
Subs: Graeme Smith, Naismith, Lennon, Loy.
Booked: Hutton, Beasley, Thomson, Cuellar.
Goals: Cousin 49 pen, Beasley 74.
Referee: M McCurry (Scotland).

Taken from telegraph.co.uk