Hearts 2 Rangers 1

Keith Jackson

SUDDENLY the swagger of genuine title contenders has gone, replaced by the stagger of an uncertain side which is losing its sense of direction.

And Hearts think they've got problems?

This was the meeting of the team they forgot to pay with the team that can't remember how to play.

And, even long before it was over, you wouldn't have wagered a dodgy Ukio Bankas cheque on Rangers' chances of recovering their stride in time to go the distance in this season's title fight.

In fact, by the time Walter Smith and his men had made it back across the M8 on Saturday night, Celtic had disappeared three more points into the distance to complete another miserable day for these pretenders to the SPL crown.

It is not quite crisis time yet for Smith's championship bid but the signs are not good.

On the latest evidence served up at Tynecastle, Rangers might soon find themselves battling just to keep hold of second spot and to fend off an increasingly credible challenge from this hard-up bunch from Gorgie.

They may be getting used to going without their wages as the global credit crunch bites but Csaba Laszlo and his players more than earned this victory and might even have racked up enough goals in a first half blitz to humiliate the Ibrox men.

That's five wins on the spin now for Laszlo but while his lot are looking more like the real deal, it seems Rangers are in danger of being exposed as frauds with nothing more than flimsy title dreams.

Just a few weeks ago Smith's side was balanced, bold and better than anything else in the country. But a sharp decline has since set in and it may well end up being crippling.

Smith has been handicapped by injury and in particular by the longterm knee damage suffered by Kevin Thomson who had emerged as the fulcrum of his midfield.

Without him, Rangers' engine room lacks poise, aggression and drive which is why they were trampled all over at Tynecastle during a torrid and ultimately a decisive opening half.

The grieving Steve Davis was also missing for the second game on the trot and without these two key players, Smith has been unable to piece together a midfield four capable of competing at this level let alone producing the kind of flashy, precise interplay which was so easy to admire earlier in the campaign.

Hearts seized control of the centre of the pitch as the increasingly frustrated Pedro Mendes and the badly out of touch Barry Ferguson found themselves swamped by Laszlo's five man midfield.

In Bruno Aguiar and wonderfully gifted Laryea Kingston, Hearts had two outstanding candidates for the man of the match award.

But they were marginally outperformed by their own skipper Christophe Berra, who was a colossus.

Rangers? They hardly mustered pass marks until the second half when surprise substitute Chris Burke came in from the cold and very nearly turned this contest on its head.

Burke's return and his trickery on the wing were enough to bemuse Hearts' left back Lee Wallace who was booked twice in a five-minute spell to leave the home side closing out victory with just 10 men.

Even though Burke added sparkle and flair to Smith's team the truth is Rangers were still looking lopsided and increasingly desperate. The manager should not escape blame for this because his starting line-up looked suspect even before the likes of Aguiar and Kingston were given the chance to pick holes in it.

Kyle Lafferty has a great deal to do if he is to prove himself worthy of his £3.5million summer fee.

In fact, Lafferty has a job on his hands just to prove he is a player worth persevering with.

Yet he was selected to run the right flank with Charlie Adam on the left.

This was the same midfield which had failed to impress at home to Aberdeen a week earlier.

It soon found itself dominated by aHearts side which, having been denied a pay packet on Friday, was playing for nothing more than pride.

Hearts hit the front in 21 minutes when Aguiar picked out Berra with a perfectly delivered free-kick and the big defender - a 40-1 shot to bag the opener which really was bizarre considering Brahim Hemdani was priced at 25's - towered above Madjid Bougherra to thump a header towards goal.

Allan McGregor got down to his left to save but only turned the ball back into his six-yard box when he ought to have shovelled it around his post.

As McGregor's defenders froze it was one of Hearts' last line, Marius Zaliukas, who pounced to slam the ball home from close range.

Less than four minutes later Rangers were teetering on the brink of complete and utter collapse after conceding a second time with almost a carbon copy of the opener.

Again Aguiar picked out Berra.

Berra got a jump on Bougherra. Again McGregor made the save only for his defence to stand off and watch Kingston nip in and head home.

It was shambolic and for a moment Smith must have feared the roof was about to cave in.

Yet, despite all this, they hit back within three minutes when Adam's free-kick smashed into Christos Karipidis' face and deflected into Jamie MacDonald's net, with the replacement keeper posted missing.

Karipidis had been sticking closely to Kris Boyd but was cruelly caught out when the striker failed to connect with Adam's delivery and also unable to get back in time to clear off his own line.

Boyd, meanwhile, was maybe the one Rangers player who, until Burke's arrival, looked as if he wanted to make a fight of it, although Mendes was working hard in midfield without any kind of assistance.

It was Aguiar and Kingston who were running the show - backed up by the diligence and industry of Ruben Palazuelos - and the first two combined brilliantly shortly before half time when it seemed a third goal was inevitable.

This time Kingston popped up on the end of Aguiar's superb cut-back and seemed sure to knock the ball into the net - only for McGregor to jab out a leg and make a terrific reflex save to keep his side in the match.

But even though Burke was sent for in 55 minutes, replacing Adam and adding some composure and craft to Rangers'forward play, there would be no way back for Smith and his team, who now languish seven points off the pace.

Nacho Novo - who should surely have been worth a starting place - was also thrown on, although much later than he ought to have been as Lafferty and Jean-Claude Darcheville had failed to contribute from the start.

But not even Wallace's late dismissal could help Rangers salvage a point as Hearts held out for a victory which was thoroughly merited.

Laszlo came bounding out on the pitch on the final whistle to celebrate as if the title itself had been won. It won't be, of course. Not by Hearts at any rate.

But if he can continue to keep his players focused and motivated, even when the wages aren't being paid, then they just might give Rangers an SPL fight they didn't see coming.

MAN OF THE MATCH
Christophe Berra (Hearts)

MAGIC MOMENT
Stunning link-up between Aguiar and Kingston that saw McGregor make a fine save.

Taken from the Daily Record