Rangers 1 Hearts 1

Hearts held Rangers to a very respectable 1-1 draw at Ibrox in today's season opening Clydesdale Bank Premier League match.

David Obua opened the scoring for the impressive Jambos on 15 minutes, with Steven Naismith responding for the home side 20 minutes into the second half.

With some players yet to hit peak fitness, JJ played his strongest team available. Ryan McGowan and Danny Grainger were on full back duty, while Medhi Taouil, David Templeton, Obua and John Sutton were all tasked with the responsibility of providing an attacking outlet.

And attack they did. With barely 30 seconds on the clock Templeton gathered possession and burst through the Rangers defence, his shot from 18 yards took a deflection which ultimately took the sting out and it trundled wide for a corner.

Rangers then took control of play with a couple of dangerous forward breaks, the last of which on five minutes saw Nickica Jelavic take a cross on his chest before attempting a bicycle kick from the edge of the box. The resultant shot flew past the Hearts goal.

With eight minutes played Hearts made a substitution. Andrew Webster was the man who made way for Adrian Mrowiec, as JJ pushed Eggert Jonsson back into defence while the big Pole slotted into centre midfield.

And the gamble paid off after a quarter of an hour when the Gorgie men took the lead. Grainger floated in a corner from the right hand side and Obua leapt like a salmon to bullet home a header past the helpless McGregor and into the net.

Hearts continued to push for a second. Five minutes after the goal Sutton and Templeton exchanged a neat one-two on the edge of the Rangers box, the Englishman's snapshot took a slight deflection and narrowly zipped past McGregor's right hand post.

Again it was the Tynecastle men who were pressing forward. Templeton was proving to be a thorn in the home side, as he danced his way deep into the Rangers box and shot from six yards, though it was smartly stopped by the feet of McGregor.

Obua had a fantastic chance to double the Jambos' lead ten minutes before half time, when Templeton slipped a ball through to the Ugandan who found himself one on one with McGregor, however his powerful shot could only find the side netting.

After the restart Marian Kello had to be on hand to deny Rangers an equaliser. Steven Davis drilled a shot from inside the box but the Hearts number one was quick to get down to his right and smother the ball.

Seconds later Naismith missed two guilt edged chances, as he first blasted a half volley wildly over when he was unmarked at the back post, then he looped a header from a Davis cross high over Kello's crossbar.

Naismith got it right at the third time of asking though, as on 67 minutes Juan Ortiz played in a probing cross from the left which was met by the head of the Scotland striker, the ball flying past Kello and nestled in the bottom left corner of the net.

A big blow to Hearts' chances of grabbing the winner came when the impressive Templeton was forced off through injury, he was replaced by Stephen Elliott.

Goalscorer Obua created a chance out of nothing on 77 minutes after he was fed the ball by Sutton, the big Ugandan turned and rifled a half volley towards goal and Rangers 'keeper McGregor had to be quick to turn the ball over the bar.

JJ's final throw of the dice came about with ten minutes remaining as he brought on Ryan Stevenson in the place of Ian Black.

Rangers dictated much of the flow of play in the second half, though they found it difficult to break through a resilient Hearts defence.

It was the home side who so nearly got in front on the 89th minute, some good link-up play between Naismith and Davis saw Papac clean through with the ball at his feet, but Hearts stopper Kello showed quick reactions to save his shot from just outside the six yard box.

Hearts had to face a late barrage of pressure from the home side, but they were able to hold on as the game finished 1-1, JJ's men coming away with a very credible point.

Rangers: McGregor, Whittaker, Bougherra, Broadfoot, Papac, Davis, Edu, McCulloch, Ortiz (Wylde 75), Naismith, Jelavic. Subs not used: Alexander, Fleck, Healy, Hemmings, Bendiksen, Wallce.

Hearts: Kello, McGowan, Webster (Mrowiec 8), Zaliukas, Grainger, Black (Stevenson 80), Jonsson, Obua, Taouil, Templeton (Elliott 50), Sutton. Subs not used: Balogh, Robinson, G.Smith, Novikovas.

Referee: Callum Murray

Top man: David Obua

Hearts World