Rangers 2 Hearts 0

By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Rangers took a major step towards ending their trophy drought by sweeping aside Hearts to book a place in the CIS Insurance Cup final at Hampden.

Skipper Barry Ferguson and Jean-Claude Darcheville were both on the scoresheet to set up a clash with Aberdeen or Dundee United at the same venue on March 16.

The occasion provides Walter Smith with his first final since returning to the Ibrox helm a year ago, and Rangers with the chance to claim their first silverware since a dramatic final-day championship triumph in May 2005.

It was a day of frantic activity for Rangers before they could even think about the clash with Hearts.

As well as Alan Hutton finalising his £9million move to Tottenham, Scotland internationals Christian Dailly and Neil Alexander both completed transfers to Ibrox and Daniel Cousin's switch to Fulham remained in the balance.

The news that held most interest for Hearts, however, was that Andy Webster had been ordered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to pay the Tynecastle club just £150,000 for breaking his contract to sign for Wigan in August 2006. FIFA had initially ordered him to pay £625,000 and Hearts wanted £4.6million.

Lack of match fitness after a long-term injury meant the on-loan Rangers defender was not named in the squad for tonight's match against his former club, as Smith made two changes from the weekend.

Steven Whittaker took over from Hutton at right-back, Sasa Papac replaced Whittaker on the other flank, and Lee McCulloch was drafted into the team at the expense of Kris Boyd despite four goals in his last two outings.

A decent run of form from Hearts in their last couple of games saw Stephen Frail keep the faith with the same eleven players who earned a 1-0 win at Aberdeen at the weekend.

Hearts started positively and there was only a minute on the clock when Andrius Velicka dragged a shot across the face of goal and wide of the upright after collecting a long throw-in from Robbie Neilson.

At the other end, Steve Banks demonstrated exactly why Rangers were keen to add him to their squad earlier this month when he denied Charlie Adam the opener.

A superb ball from the right from Whittaker sailed over the head of Darcheville and fell to the feet of Adam only for Banks to pull a save out of the top drawer to block the well-struck volley.

Christian Nade looked busy for Hearts and he could have won a penalty after going to ground under pressure from Carlos Cuellar on the edge of the box.

Whether the challenge took place inside the area was debatable but referee Mike McCurry was unimpressed by the pleas and refused to award a free-kick let alone a penalty.

Saulius Mikoliunas then sent a smart shot wide from 25 yards, before Eggert Jonsson's angled drive was held by goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

Ten minutes before the break Darcheville took a tumble in the box after finding himself sandwiched between Neilson and Christos Karipidis but, again, the claims were dismissed.

Then Velicka connected firmly with a Jonsson cross and a full-stretch McGregor looked beaten by the header - but the crossbar came to Rangers' rescue.

Four minutes after the restart Ferguson collected a Chris Burke cross from the right flank on the edge of the box, turned and lashed an unstoppable left-footed shot into the bottom corner - although he appeared to control the ball with his hand.

As far as Rangers were concerned, the goal was justice after a handball by Jose Goncalves went unpunished seconds earlier.

Boosted by the opener, Darcheville then saw a tight-angled shot touched onto the post by the Hearts goalkeeper and McCulloch was not too far away with an effort which whistled just wide of the target.

Hearts could have capitalised on those missed opportunities when Nade's pass split the Rangers defence but Velicka dragged the ball wide.

And there was no way back for Hearts when Darcheville claimed his eighth goal of the season with 21 minutes to go.

Burke whipped the ball across the face of goal to the back post where Darcheville was waiting to side-foot home from six yards.

Still not fully-fit after a season plagued by injury, the striker left the field for Nacho Novo - having yet to play a full 90 minutes.

Teams

Rangers McGregor, Whittaker, Cuellar, Weir, Papac, Ferguson,Hemdani, McCulloch, Burke, Darcheville (Novo 76), Adam.

Subs Not Used: Graeme Smith, Faye, Broadfoot, Boyd.

Booked: Whittaker, Darcheville, Adam, McCulloch.

Goals: Ferguson 50, Darcheville 69.

Hearts Banks, Neilson, Karipidis, Berra,Goncalves (Wallace 83), Jonsson, Stewart, Palazuelos,Mikoliunas (Driver 58), Nade (Beniusis 72), Ksanavicius.

Subs Not Used: Basso, McCann.

Att: 31,989

Ref: M McCurry (Scotland).

Taken from sportinglife.com