SPL: Hearts 1 Rangers 0

Jan 24 2011 By Keith Jackson

ONLY Scottish football, the historic home of the unlikely hero, could find itself saved from its darkest hour like this. Rescued by a man with a massive set of tats.

This time last year Ryan Stevenson wasn't even playing in the top flight. But on Saturday this walking work of art, formerly of Ayr United, breathed new life into the SPL, delivering it from crisis with a goal of enormous significance.

It's game on alright.

Hearts are in the thick of a three-way fight for the title and a glance at the table after this latest win was enough to set the pulse racing.

Our game has not done that for a while but there was something about this match that brought back memories of better times and when Stevenson pounced 13 minutes from time to topple the champions he set us all up for a thrilling title run-in.

Typically, however, the whole story was not so straightforward.

You see, to become our game's good samaritan Stevenson had first to commit a sin against Walter Smith and his players - robbing them in Gorgie like some sort of back street mugger.

Rangers left the scene of the crime looking bewildered, which was perfectly understandable given that much of their play had been pretty fantastic.

They could easily have had all three points secured inside the opening half hour had it not been for a string of magnificent saves from Hearts keeper Marian Kello.

That they departed empty handed seemed ridiculously unjust given their dominance but what was a travesty for the Ibrox men was also a badly-needed shot in the arm for football up and down the country.

Our game has been dying on its a*** for months, maybe years. But it all seemed to crackle back to life on an electric afternoon in the capital's west end.

There was not a spare seat in the house which was delicious proof that, in this little corner of Edinburgh at least, a terrible trend has been bucked.

At a time when supporters are staying away in their droves the masses are assembling again on the streets around Tynecastle and many left this place on Saturday convinced this is their time.

This soaring confidence may yet prove misplaced. It will take something truly spectacular from Jim Jefferies and his players if they are to push on from here and split the Old Firm or even pip both of them to the title itself.

But even so, the fact they have popped up on the shoulders of the big two at this stage of the season is a cause for genuine excitement.

And their stubborn refusal to fold when put under what at times was extreme pressure by the champions can only fortify their credentials as serious contenders.

They remain outsiders but that could change, and quickly, if they follow up this win by taking something from Celtic Park on Wednesday night.

The midweek trip across the M8 would have been a far less intriguing prospect had they not clung together to see off a Rangers side that opened up in truly rampant mood.

Time and time again Smith's men ripped through the thick ranks of maroon as if they felt there was a point to be proved now they have been abandoned by top scorer Kenny Miller.

Kyle Lafferty was given the role of lone frontman and he started promisingly enough by taking only 28 seconds to fire off his first effort of the day, forcing Kello into a fine save. The first of many.

Lafferty, though, is a constant frustration. It was not until he was replaced by the returning Nikica Jelavic that the Rangers attack had a really sharp edge but by then the rest of the team had lost its early sparkle. Even so, Jelavic almost rescued a point with a breathtaking effort that smashed off the Hearts bar.

The sooner the Croat is back to full fitness the healthier the champions will look.

At the other end Stevenson was deployed as a stop-gap striker and stand-in for Kevin Kyle but it was not until he was repositioned back into the midfield that he poached the winning goal.

Until that second-half switch Stevenson was an increasingly peripheral figure. Hearts were being battered, torn open by a cluster of slick Rangers attacks.

Kello was keeping his side in it and his finest moment arrived just 12 minutes in when he flung himself to his left to pull off a fabulous fingertip save, turning a Jamie Ness bullet over the bar.

Lafferty and Steven Naismith were also denied by Kello and as unlikely as it had seemed the sides went in level at the break.

Assuming Rangers could not raise their levels much higher after the interval - and that Hearts could hardly be worse - this win was still theirs for the taking. And so it proved.

The home side survived a few scares after the interval including a penalty shout when Ismael Bouzid appeared to block Lee McCulloch's effort with his arm.

But after Jefferies threw on Gary Glen for David Templeton and reverted to a 4-4-2 his troops never looked in danger.

Lee Wallace was now surging upfield freely and with 13 minutes left he set up Stephen Elliot for a shot that bobbled perfectly into the path of Stevenson who fired it home from five yards.

Game over for Rangers. Game very much on for the rest of us.

Taken from the Daily Record