Ibrox fans get mad after Hearts draw even

Indeed, the home fans' condemnation of their team at the finish could be called cacophonous, infinitely louder and more animated than anything they had produced since the moment, a few seconds before half-time, when Barry Ferguson had given them a seemingly impregnable two-goal lead.

Here was a classic case of two parties with conflicting interests arriving at the same result and experiencing entirely contrasting emotions. To those wearing the maroon, the draw clearly felt like a victory, to those in royal blue a dumbfounding defeat. Even an obviously depressed Walter Smith admitted the latter in a gloomy post-match media conference.

"Yes, it does feel like a defeat," said Smith. "Anybody watching the first hour of the match couldn't have imagined that we would manage to undo what was one of our better performances at home this season. When we lost to Inverness Caley Thistle here, we didn't actually score and had only ourselves to blame for that.

"But today we had two goals, and it wasn't as if Hearts were coming back at us in the second half. They had made their changes at half-time, but for the first fifteen minutes we were still in control and had the chance to score a third. But there was a softness about our team in general and that's disappointing. We have to show a little more determination when we're in front."

Contrary to Smith's understandably one-eyed view, Rangers' advantage at the interval did not appear unassailable because they had been especially impressive. Their ascendancy owed more to the abysmal standard of a Hearts side whose players appeared incapable of passing the ball even a short distance to a teammate. During that 45 minutes of fecklessness and disarray, their occupation of third place in the Premier League made a distressingly unconvincing advertisement for Scottish football as a whole.

Rangers' goals were expertly executed, but the opportunities were afforded by opponents who seemed to be unaware that Rangers' defence had been supposedly weakened by the absence of the suspended David Weir and the injured Madjid Bougherra and Kirk Broadfoot. The thought occurred at half-time that, were the 35-year-old Christian Dailly – twinned in central defence with converted midfielder Lee McCulloch – to encounter such feeble opposition every week, he could play for another ten years.

Dailly was probably thinking the same thing when Rangers' goals were scored. David Obua generously provided the means for the first when he sent a crossfield pass straight to DaMarcus Beasley and the little American quickly relayed the ball straight to the feet of Kyle Lafferty, coming into the penalty area from the right. The tall striker hit a low drive into Jamie MacDonald's far corner with such precision that it was easy to believe that Rangers lost a prime asset when he left the field injured, replaced by Nacho Novo, after just 36 minutes.

Novo would squander the chance for the third goal to which Smith alluded when he shot wide of MacDonald's left post after being sent clear on a wonderful through ball from Steven Davis. But Ferguson's second goal should have made Novo's profligacy an irrelevance.

It was when the ball from a corner kick by Pedro Mendes on the right came straight back to him that the Portuguese slipped it to Ferguson, standing on the right side of the box without a challenger in sight. The Rangers captain struck the low, left-foot drive far to the left of the goalkeeper from 15 yards.

Csaba Laszlo, the Hearts manager, responded at the start of the second half by removing Deividas Cesnauskis and sending on Calum Elliot, switching from a 4-1-4-1 formation to a 4-4-2. Elliot, whose career at Tynecastle could reasonably be described as chequered, seized his opportunity like a hungry wolf.

Elliot gave a glimpse of what was to come by taking a pass from Bruno Aguiar and forcing a diving save from Allan McGregor – his first of the match – with a powerful drive. From the corner kick by Aguiar which followed, Christos Karipidis's header clearly crossed the line before the stretching Beasley made the clearance.

Elliot's next contribution would bring the equaliser. It was from Obua's deep cross from the right that the striker headed the ball down to Ruben Palazuelos, giving the Spaniard the opportunity to hit a beautifully-controlled left-foot drive on the turn low to the left of McGregor from 16 yards.

But for an excellent save from the Rangers goalkeeper, Elliot would have won the match for Hearts in injury time with a curling, right-foot shot from the left side of the area after he had forged clear of all challenges.

The voluble and colourful Laszlo confirmed afterwards that his half-time talk to his players was not meant for sensitive ears. "I can't say what I said, as there are ladies present," said the gallant Hungarian. "But it was loud. If you see your team play the s**t we played in the first half, you have to change things.

"We are third in the league and have to play with confidence at Ibrox. Things were so poor in the first half, but in the second half very sexy."

That was an exaggeration, but it was allowable in the circumstances.

Whittaker will not allow dropped points to dent title ambitions

STEVEN Whittaker insists Rangers still have the bottle for the title race despite throwing away a two-goal lead against Hearts and being forced to settle for a point.

Some observers will no doubt be questioning Rangers' stomach for the fight as the title race heads into the final straight. But Whittaker believes the international break will allow the Ibrox side to recharge their batteries and come back stronger.

He claimed: "We still believe we can do it. We don't usually throw a lot of points away at home and we have done so in the last two games. That's disappointing.

"But we have time to regroup now and focus on the games we have left.

"All we can do is go out and try to gain as many points as we can and see where we end up at the end of the season."

Kyle Lafferty opened the scoring early on before Barry Ferguson found the back of the net on the stroke of half-time.

Hearts had failed to make an impression for the first hour but burst into life with goals from Christos Karipidis and Ruben Palazuelos in a blistering three-minute spell.

Asked where it all went wrong for Rangers in the second half, Whittaker admitted: "That's a good question. I don't know.

"We started the game so well and were coasting to quite a comfortable victory.

"But they changed formation in the second half and went for it a little bit and we just let two goals slip."

Rangers left the pitch to the sound of jeers from their own fans and Whittaker had no complaints about the reaction from the Ibrox crowd. Sometimes they get on your back but they pay their money to come and watch us," said the full-back. "They are always going to get behind the team when we're winning and they are going to be disappointed – like us – when we don't win."

The draw keeps Hearts on course to claim the coveted third spot behind the Old Firm. Palazuelos said: "We were poor in the first half and the manager was very angry at half-time but there was a big improvement in the second half. A draw is a good result and this point could be so important come May."

Meanwhile, Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson has written off any chance of playing again this season. The 24-year-old is making good progress after suffering a serious knee injury back in November and is desperate for a return to action. But he insists he will not gamble with his future by making his comeback too soon, ruling out any hope of taking part in the title run-in.

Thomson said: "It's a case of so far, so good with the injury but this is a marathon and not a sprint. I will continue to obey the orders of the medical staff and work hard. I will visit a specialist next week and hope to get the thumbs up to start some jogging and some work outdoors. But I won't play again this season. I'm desperate to return but want to be 100 per cent. I won't rush things."

Lisa Gray

Taken from the Scotsman