Rangers' goal gives Hearts cause for complaint

By Roddy Forsyth

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

A productive evening for Rangers, who reached the CIS Insurance Cup final while preserving their championship lead over Celtic - thanks to the rain which caused the postponement of the Parkhead side's fixture with Motherwell at Fir Park.
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The manner of the win, however, left a sour taste in Hearts' mouths because of Barry Ferguson's opening goal, shortly after the break. The Rangers captain clearly got the benefit of his own handball before finding the net with his drive and, although Jean Claude Darcheville put the tie beyond Hearts with a legitimate second goal, the incident was the turning point of the contest.

"It maybe came off my hand, but I didn't mean to handball it and the referee was obviously happy," said Ferguson.

Mike McCurry was duly jeered from the field by the Tynecastle support at the final whistle and it will be small comfort to them to reflect that if Andrius Velicka had not missed an open goal then they might have forced the tie into extra time at least.

For the Rangers fans, the question consequent on the departure of Alan Hutton to Tottenham Hotspur was how well Steven Whittaker would step into the role of full-back.

Whittaker has confessed to this correspondent that he has never quite been certain whether he is a natural defender or midfield player, but his attributes in the more advanced areas contributed to the dominance Rangers exercised in that department for much of the first half.

It was Hearts, though, who opened the more aggressively, led by Christian Nade, whose somewhat ponderous, but effective, movement was to make him an awkward customer for the Rangers defence to handle. He got beyond Whittaker when Saulius Mikoliunas adeptly threaded the ball through the Rangers offside trap, but the full-back was able to get goalside of his opponent to win a throw-in.

After Nade forced a corner off Carlos Cuellar, Rangers found their rhythm in midfield and they had their best opportunity of the half when Whittaker hit the byline to deliver a deep cross, which was met by Charlie Adam with a left-foot volley that was blocked by Steve Banks.

Within five minutes, though, Hearts claimed a penalty when Nade robbed and rounded Cuellar only to go down in the penalty box as the Spaniard attempt a recovery challenge.

Mike McCurry declined to award a foul, perhaps because Nade went to ground a little too readily for his liking, and to be fair to the referee he was no more sympathetic to Darcheville when he was sandwiched between Robbie Nielson and Christos Karipidis in the box 10 minutes from the break.

Talking points were generally thin on the ground, but Hearts almost pinched the lead when Eggert Jonsson wriggled free on the right and crossed for Andrius Velicka to send a twisting header off the face of the crossbar with Allan McGregor beaten.

That was enough to send the Tynecastle side into the dressing room in the belief that they could inflict damage after the break, but they were punctured by a bad decision from the referee six minutes into the second half.

Mr McCurry had waved aside yet another strong penalty claim, this time for Rangers, when Jose Goncalves handled, but while all three such decisions at least had the merit of being debatable, the next flashpoint gave Hearts unmistakable cause for grievance.

Burke, active on the right, crossed towards Ferguson in the heart of the box. As the Rangers captain stretched to control the ball, it came back off his right boot, struck his left hand and fell perfectly for him to hook a left-foot drive over his shoulder and beyond Banks.

The goal should never have stood and it dispirited Hearts as much as it animated Rangers, for whom Darcheville came tantalisingly close to making it 2-0 with a cross-cum-shot which skimmed off the crossbar.

The Frenchman was not long denied, however, because when Burke evaded Goncalves' attentions to drive a low cross to the back post, Darcheville was there to flick home with the outside of his right boot.

Match details

Rangers (4-4-2): McGregor; Whittaker, Weir, Papac; Burke, Ferguson, Hemdani, Adam; McCulloch (Novo 80), Darcheville (Boyd 75).
Subs: Smith (g), Faye, Broadfoot.
Booked: Whittaker, Darcheville, Adam.
Goals: Ferguson 50, Darcheville 69.
Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): Banks; Neilson, Karipidis; Berra, Goncalves (Wallace 83); Jonsson, Stewart, Palazuelos, Mikoliunas (Driver 58); Nade (Beniusis 72), Velicka.
Subs: Basso (g), Driver, McCann.
Referee: Mike McCurry.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk