Hearts finally have reason to cheer

Hearts 4
Driver (13), Tall (27), Stewart (66 pen), Ivaskevicus (70)

Rangers 2
Cousin (49 pen), Beasley (74)

LEAGUE watchers' thoughts will curdle at the realisation that, at the outset of Celtic's current five-goals-a-game sequence, Hearts were their first victims.

That 5-0 humiliation by the other half of the Old Firm just three weeks ago revealed a Tynecastle team seemingly bereft of spirit and coherence.

In horse racing, the inexplicable improvement in their form between that abject afternoon and this storming victory over the previously impregnable Rangers would have been sufficiently suspicious to cause the matter to be referred to the stewards of the Jockey Club.

It is too simplistic to argue that, having reached the bottom of their plunge towards ignominy - at that stage, just two points from four matches - the only way was up. In such circumstances, a longer period on the skids is much more common.

Even Stevie Frail, the Scottish element in the cosmopolitan, tri-partite managerial system in operation at Hearts, could not adequately account for the regeneration of his players' energy and commitment, the restoration of the will and the skill that simply blew Rangers away.

Frail believes reports of the death of camaraderie at Tynecastle were inaccurate, although he did acknowledge at the time of the Celtic Park embarrassment that it was a problem. Nor is he convinced that the recent, so-called "bonding exercise" - a trip to Lithuania during the break for international football - was especially significant. But he did offer one or two pointers.

"The bonding session wasn't unhelpful," said Frail. "I mean, there wasn't much to do in our hotel in Lithuania, but it was very relaxing. I think it was misleading, though, to say that there was no team spirit here. Yes, we needed to pick ourselves up, but it wasn't all doom and gloom. And we had seen evidence that they were coming back to something like themselves in the matches at Stirling (CIS Cup) and at Motherwell, where we had two good victories.

"I think the players might have been galvanised today by the fuss that was made of the Saulius Mikoliunas incident in the Scotland match at Hampden last week. Miko deserved some criticism for taking a dive and winning a penalty, but some of it was way over the top.

"We were really up for the game today and made a good start. Getting the two goals in the first half was all we deserved. We knew (Audrius) Ksanavicius would probably tire, because he had been involved in the internationals with Lithuania, but, as he showed at Hampden and again here, he is a very good player.

"(Kestutis) Ivaskevicius also did very well when he came on as a sub early in the second half. He did much to put us back on top after Rangers had pulled a goal back. But we have to kick on from this. There's no point in producing your top form only against the likes of Rangers."

Unlike Frail with Ksanavicius, Walter Smith decided to rest Barry Ferguson, although the midfielder had played only one of Scotland's matches, the victory over France. The captain was back in place at the start of the second half, the expected consequence of a first 45 minutes in which the Ibrox side were so peripheral to the action that a two-goal deficit was a fairly light punishment.

Hearts were quicker, more committed, aggressive and incisive and surprised nobody by taking the lead through Andrew Driver's sweet strike from 15 yards out on the left after Carlos Cuellar had sent the ball straight to him. They had also done enough to deserve the break they enjoyed when Ibrahim Tall's shot was deflected by Cuellar into the air and over goalkeeper Allan McGregor for the second.

It was a bad day for Rangers' Spanish defender, who was fortunate not to have been sent off. He escaped warranted yellow cards for two tackles from behind before, finally, being cautioned for a foul on Christian Nade after the Hearts striker had dispossessed him and headed for the penalty area. McGregor, too, was fortunate to escape punishment for a later attack on substitute Calum Elliot as the ball ran out of play.

Nade, signed from Sheffield United on the last day of the transfer window, offers the hope that Hearts may have uncovered the intelligent and bothersome forward they have been seeking for so long. He was a constant irritant to Cuellar and David Weir in the Rangers defence, regularly causing alarm.

It was in overcoming the slight wobble that followed Daniel Cousin's conversion of the penalty awarded when Robbie Neilson tripped Ferguson that Ivaskevicius was a telling influence. Having replaced Driver in the 48th minute, he won the penalty - fouled by Alan Hutton - from which Michael Stewart, an ubiquitous influence in midfield, restored the two-goal advantage.

Ivaskevicius himself made it 4-1 by coming in from the left and sending a low, right-foot shot under the body of McGregor. DaMarcus Beasley's drive from the left side of the box into the far corner merely made the scoreline a little more respectable for the visitors.

"We didn't start well and Hearts out us under a lot of pressure," said Smith. "They deserved their 2-0 lead at half-time. It was no surprise by Hearts, because they are an experienced team. But, really, that first 25 minutes was as disappointing as it has been since I came back to Rangers.

"I hope the defensive lapses were just a bad day, a one-off. If not, we'll be back to where we were when I came in."

Taken from the Scotsman