Rangers rely on late show

Skacel 12

Rangers 2

Lafferty 79, Naismith 94

YOU have to admire Rangers. To do full justice to their latest great escape, look beyond the drama and controversies wrapped up in Steven Naismith's 94th-minute winner, the incident and error-strewn mid-afternoon that preceded it, and focus on how precisely Walter Smith's men preserved their 100 per cent league record after seven games.

They fought fatigue, fought their own disjointedness and fought like tigers to overcome the one-goal advantage Hearts had held from the early minutes. They call it indefatigability. Rangers have it in spades.

The two-in-a-row champions looked as if their recent exertions - overturning a two-goal deficit at Pittodrie last weekend and beating Bursaspor in the Champions League in midweek - were destined to catch up with them as they struggled to step up the pace early in the second period. But in now recovering from losing positions three times in the past month alone the Ibrox men are proving the ultimate by-hook-or-by-crook side. The hook was the equaliser that arrived courtesy of a 20-yard free-kick from Kyle Lafferty, who was abetted by Hearts' misshapen defensive wall. The crook was Naismith, who followed up his winner against Bursaspor with a strike that saw him run 60 yards, exchange passes with Lafferty and then steer a low, angled shot in-off the far post from 14 yards.

What happened in the lead-up and aftermath of the winner is what will munch up newsprint in the next few days, however. It was set in motion by referee Craig Thomson awarding a questionable free-kick for a high boot from his Hearts' namesake. And when Naismith celebrated the clincher by running towards the main stand enclosure and cupping his ears as he was mobbed by team-mates, it proved the cue for a number of Hearts fans to aim a variety of missiles in the direction of the opposing players, only for assistant Willie Conquer to be struck.

It was a meaty end to a day of tasty morsels, with Rangers manager Smith appearing relieved as much as anything that his team had gobbled up another three points through demonstrating their insatiable appetite for winning.

"A team doesn't win championships without having a pride and not accepting defeat, and we have shown a determination in the past few seasons. The players have a really good attitude about them."

Cranking up the tempo to turn the encounter around, Rangers were regularly thwarted by the excellent Marian Kello, while both Sasa Papac and Steven Davis struck the goal frame with fierce efforts.

"We got what we deserved in the end. We controlled most of the game and had most of the attempts on goal," Smith said.

"Hearts defended well for an hour and us scoring two goals seemed unlikely at one stage, but they were thoroughly deserved.

"Anyone looking at this week would have said it is a big one or us. Pittodrie and Tynecastle aren't the easiest places to c ome for anyone, so we are delighted."

Hearts counterpart Jim Jefferies didn't slip into full-rage mode over the decisions he felt cost his team. He lamented more than lashed out about them. Jefferies didn't think five minutes' added time was justified. Neither could he fathom why Craig Thomson was hauled up for dangerous play in a challenge with Papac that pre-empted the winner.

"Both players' legs were at the same height (yet] we were the ones penalised for it," he said ruefully.

The fact that the free-kick was awarded 60 yards from goal, and Naismith was allowed to maraude forward unchallenged, might have caused Jefferies to temper his anger. His real frustration, indeed, was reserved for his own players' efforts.

Kyle inexplicably failed to find the target with a glorious headed opportunity seconds after Rangers' equaliser, leaving Jefferies to bemoan that "nine times out of ten" he would have scored with such a gift.

Then there was the ineffectual barrier formed for that aforementioned free-kick. Lafferty was able to squeeze a low drive through a gap in the wall, much to Jefferies' dismay. "The wall didn't do its job," the Hearts manager said, erroneously believing his men had "jumped or turned their backs", when their negligence was in parting.

The goals were cruel on Kello and centre-back Ismael Bouzid, if not his partner, Adrian Mrowiec. Although described by his manager as a "stand-out", the Pole did turn his back on Naismith and so allowed him to step inside at the goal, thereby staining an otherwise disciplined display.

Bouzid and Mrowiec certainly got their bodies in the way of plenty as part of a three-man central defence to which Jefferies turned in making five changes from the side beaten at home to Motherwell. Yet the defending was often of the desperate variety, with little conviction shown in the skittish efforts to repel Rangers.

Equally, the visitors betrayed precisely these same shortcomings in failing to prevent Skacel opening the scoring in curious fashion. The Czech chased down a flick-on from Kyle that somehow bounced beyond several blue-shirted opponents challenging him. He then found Allan McGregor in his sights, only to swipe at fresh air when attempting to shoot. That meant the ball rolling past the foxed and grounded keeper, and sitting up for Skacel to knock it into an empty net.

The fact Kello subsequently had to pluck the ball out of his net left him distraught. "I could have cried at the last whistle," he said.

"It was very painful."

HEARTS
Kello
Bouzid
Mrowiec
Barr
C Thomson
Jonsson
Black (80)
Skacel (77)
Obua (67)
Kyle
Elliot

Subs used
J Thomson (67) Stevenson (77)
Palazuelos (80)

RANGERS
McGregor
Whittaker
Bougherra
Weir
Papac
Naismith
Davis
Edu
Weiss
Miller
Jelavic (77)

Subs used
Lafferty (77)

MAN OF THE MATCH

Marian Kello (Hearts)

Made a number of terrific stops and was powerless to prevent both goals.

TALKING POINT

The missile-throwing from Hearts supporters will demand a sanction.

Referee: C Thomson. Attendance: 15,637

Taken from the Scotsman