Hearts 1 Rangers 2

Oct 4 2010 By Keith Jackson

WHAT do Rangers think they are playing at? Has it not dawned on them yet this is SCOTTISH football?

Right now Walter Smith and his players are in serious danger of taking what is supposed to be the unwatchable and turning into the unmissable.

On Saturday, for the second weekend running, they went into an SPL match - by their very nature meant to be mundane and drab affairs - and made a thriller out of it.

It has to be said they were more than ably assisted by Hearts, just as they had been by Aberdeen at Pittodrie seven days earlier.

And despite the considerable best efforts of the home side, the outcome was the same. The champions came back from behind to put on a performance which, if not quite word perfect, was still pretty much irresistible.

It was not all blood and snotters either, even if this win was underpinned by a gritty sense of character and traditional never-say-die spirit.

No, there is something else about Smith's bunch this season - something refined, classy even. And if they continue to go about their business in this manner, they might just make a mockery of the commonly-held belief our national game is at an all-time low.

More than 15,000 inside a crackling Tynecastle and those watching live on ESPN saw compelling evidence to the contrary.

You could not take your eyes off it. Not from the first whistle until the last kick, five minutes into injury time.

Over and over one thought occurred: If this is as bad as it gets then perhaps we're not in as big a mess as we thought? Damn you Rangers. You'll have us believing in our national team next, just as we go in against the Czech Republic and world champs Spain.

This is Scottish football - blossoming optimism has no place here!

It made for delightful viewing all the same, even if the home fans were left cursing their rotten luck.

Their team put on a fine show. Manager Jim Jefferies worked a Walter on his starting line-up by stringing five players across the b was not an exclusively defensive app They were ahead after 11 minute Rudi Skacel, in the first start of his stint at the club, bundled home an unconventional opening goal. ack - but it proach. es when second Skacel was assisted by unusually Rangers defending as Madjid Bougher away from Kevin Kyle and allowed t to get a free header on a long forwar from another Algerian, Ismael Bouz was in magnificent form. sloppy rra stepped the striker rd probe zid, who Skacel burst through, not tracked b Edu. And although Bougherra turned he succeeded only in knocking the Cz stride to the befuddlement of Allan M - already diving right in anticipation But Skacel stayed on his feet and s on to lash the ball into an empty net that instant this contest exploded in Hearts set about tightening their g even though Rangers were coming a from every angle, the home side stoo thanks chiefly to the combined hero centre-half Bouzid and keeper Mari by Maurice d in time zech off his McGregor n of a shot. stumbled t. Bang! In nto life. grip and at them od firm oics of ian Kello.

Bouzid flung himself at everything and made contact with most of it. He won headers, made tackles, lunged into blocks and did everything humanly possible to keep Kenny Miller and Nikica Jelavic at arms length.

Even before Skacel's goal, he had popped up on his own line to hook the ball clear after Jelavic had forced Kello into a save and Steve Davis - another inspirational performer on the day - knocked the rebound towards what he thought was an unguarded net.

Kello's finest moment came 10 minutes before the break when he launched his huge frame to the left to keep out a blistering Jelavic scissor kick at point-blank range and tip it over the bar.

Rangers were by now coming forward in waves of attacks. Steven Naismith appeared to be everywhere at once and Davis also drove his team on from the centre of the pitch as Rangers tried to find new ways to pick holes in this resolute and organised Hearts defence.

There was a delicious meatiness to it too, some of which seemed to unnerve ref Craig Thomson who dished out six yellow cards - five of them to the home side - but without ever appearing in control. But as the second half fizzed on Rangers were running out of time and ideas. In the space of 60 seconds Sasa Papac rattled woodwork with a stunning volley from 20 yards and Davis blazed over the top after being cleverly teed up by Jelavic.

Moments later Jelavic was chopped down by Ian Black as the Croat attempted to drive in behind the Hearts defence. Black saw yellow when it could easily have been red. Jelavic hobbled off soon after in obvious distress.

This looked a serious setback for the visitors, not least because his replacement was Kyle Lafferty. But the Northern Irishman was to use the remaining 13 minutes to continue the recent repair job on his own reputation.

With 10 minutes left Lafferty stood over a free kick 20 yards out and spotted Kello had failed to build his wall far enough to the right.

This left a gap just big enough for Lafferty to drill in a low drive at the keeper's left-hand post and suddenly Rangers were revived and completely re-energised.

But Hearts were also jolted by this loss and the final segment of this match was even more enthralling than before. Kyle ought to have had the winner in 82 minutes. He ghosted on to a Craig Thomson cross but failed to hit the target from inside the six-yard box with his header.

Ruben Palazuelos let rip to force McGregor into his first testing save of the day. And Kello had a second wonder save to keep out Lafferty at point-blank range then a superb Davis hitchkick smashed off his left-hand post.

But the winner came three minutes into injury time and was down to the determination of Naismith not to give up on a lost cause.

The wide man worked a quick free-kick with Davie Weir deep inside his own half before surging upfield. Naismith combined neatly with Lafferty 30 yards out and continued his run, dropping a shoulder to glide easily inside Adrian Mrowiec then clipping a sublime finish across Kello with the outside of his right boot.

A magnificent finish to a monumental match. Some home fans took the shine off it by hurling missiles at Naismith and his team-mates, something our game can well do without.

As for the rest, we'll take that any day of the week. It will never catch on.

Taken from the Daily Record