Vladimir Romanov's tinkering gifts Rangers win

By Roddy Forsyth

Rangers (1) 2 Heart of Midlothian (0) 1

Lee McCulloch, scorer of the double that sank Hearts at Ibrox on Saturday, believes Rangers now have the character and ability win the league.
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Lee McCulloch celebrates scoring for Rangers
Double delight: Lee McCulloch's two goals fired Rangers to victory

A week of mixed fortunes for Walter Smith and his players - who were dumped from the Champions League by Lyon on Wednesday - finished on a distinct high yesterday when they learned of Celtic's unexpected setback at Inverness.

The champions' defeat by Caley Thistle means that Rangers are now two points behind the leaders, but with two games in hand, following their edgy victory over Hearts at Ibrox on Saturday.

"It didn't matter how we beat Hearts - it was just about getting a win," said McCulloch. "We were a bit leggy after the Lyon game but we still ground out three points. Now we have a week's rest and can focus on Sunday's game at Aberdeen."

Of course, points already in the bank are worth more than points in prospect, but Celtic's loss is likely to have a sharp tonic effect on a Rangers side that looked bleary and hesitant after their European disappointment.
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In that context, the role of the unfortunate Eduardas Kurskis was thrown into sharp relief. The 31-year-old Lithuanian goalkeeper was signed by Hearts as a squad player last year, but had to wait to make his debut until the home game against Motherwell nine days ago.

There was some doubt on Friday about whether he would keep his place following a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Fir Park side, but Kurskis was granted another outing at Ibrox.

He could not be faulted for McCulloch's opener after the Rangers player was allowed to exploit defensive hesitancy to beat the goalkeeper with a well executed finish.

However, when McCulloch shanked a late attempt into the night sky, there was no reason to suspect that Kurskis would make anything other than a straightforward catch.

Instead, he allowed the dropping ball to squirt through his hands and across the unguarded line. "It's right there with the worst I've ever scored and I feel sorry for the keeper," said McCulloch.

However, there was no great surprise about the outcome, despite the fact that Hearts had been the better side for a spell after they had equalised through Andrius Velicka's header from Andy Driver's precise free-kick, 10 minutes after the break.

In most games Hearts have passages when they belie their degraded league status, but endless changes to personnel and tactics, dictated by the club's controlling shareholder, Vladimir Romanov, militate against consistency of the type any successful side must build painstakingly.

Hearts have now been overtaken by Caley Thistle -having won only once in eight games - and Frail came out to present his weekly report after the fashion of a front-line NCO trying to make sense of baffling orders from whichever command centre is currently occupied by Romanov.

Of Velicka's removal so soon after the player had scored, Frail said: "It wasn't my call, but it's no secret that I don't make the substitutions here. We have three goalkeepers and they have all played in the last six games. I know who the best goalkeeper is but it would be unfair of me to sit and talk about that situation at the minute."

Robbie Neilson, Hearts' right-back - and one player who does get a regular game - took up the theme. "Last week we had five or six changes, not just in personnel but also in our formation," he said. The players haven't got any influence on it at all. I had high hopes this season.

"I thought it would be a case of just gelling the team. We have gelled as players, but not as a formation or as an 11.

"We're looking at eighth place now and, with what we have as players and wages, it's nowhere near good enough."

Match details

Rangers (4-3-2-1): McGregor; Hutton, Cuellar, Weir, Whittaker; Ferguson, Hemdani, Adam; Naismith (Burke 84), McCulloch; Boyd (Darcheville 69).
Subs: Carroll (g), Papac, Ehiogu, Furman, Efrem.
Goals: McCulloch 18, 87.
Booked: McCulloch, Whittaker, Hutton.
Hearts (4-1-4-1): Kurskis; Neilson, Zaliukas, Berra, Goncalves; Jonsson; Mikoliunas (Ivaskevicious h-t), Elliot, Palazuelos (Beniusis 88), Driver; Velicka (Nade 59).
Subs: Banks (g), Wallace, McGowan, Brown.
Goals: Velicka 56.
Booked: Palazuelos, Berra, Neilson.
Referee: D McDonald (Scotland).

Taken from telegraph.co.uk