Rangers frustrated despite Naismith equaliser as Hearts claim point

• Rangers 1-1 Hearts
• Naismith 58; Obua 16

Scottish Premier League
Rangers 1

Naismith 58

Hearts 1

Obua 16

Ewan Murray at Ibrox
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 23 July 2011 14.43 BST

As the Rangers support hailed the unfurling of a flag to mark the claiming of their 54th championship, they had not banked on such a troubled start to the pursuit of a 55th.

Hearts arrived in Glasgow with the aim of giving Ally McCoist a bloody nose in his first competitive match in charge of Rangers. Amid an opening half in which Hearts passed up opportunities to extend the lead handed to them by David Obua, that looked a viable prospect.

Rangers recovered after the interval, Steven Naismith cancelling out Obua's header, but not sufficiently to prevent a full-time chorus of boos from the Ibrox stands. Levels of scrutiny surrounding Rangers' Champions League qualifying meeting with Malmo on Tuesday night have now intensified.

"We could have nicked the game but that would maybe have been an injustice because of the way we were in the first half," McCoist acknowledged. "But we have had a 1-1 draw against a very good side, a side who are a lot of people's tip to finish third, at least, this season." That said, McCoist knows all too well that time is not a commodity afforded to Old Firm managers; audible discontent from supporters merely served as a reminder.

The Rangers support had offered ironic cheers after only eight minutes. The Hearts defender Andy Webster, who became something of a joke figure during an injury-plagued time at Ibrox, limped off with a recurrence of a groin problem. Even Kenny McDowall, the Rangers coach, shook his head as Webster sauntered past.

Home unrest was soon prevalent. Obua met Danny Grainger's corner, completely unchallenged, and headed home before Allan McGregor saved smartly from Hearts' David Templeton. As Obua lashed wide when sent through by Templeton, Rangers' only saving grace was that a lethargic start had not cost them more heavily.

"I once took a Hearts team here and won 3-0," said the Edinburgh club's manager, Jim Jefferies, later. "I said to the players at half-time that they had produced as good a performance as that day."

Hints of a Rangers rousing from their slumber arrived moments before the interval, only a superb tackle from Ian Black preventing Naismith from claiming an almost certain goal.

A tactical move by McCoist during the break, moving the hitherto peripheral Steven Davis into a more central position, triggered a more creative Rangers approach. Naismith passed up two fine chances to equalise before doing exactly that.

Ryan McGowan, who had done an outstanding job in marshalling the Rangers debutant Juan Ortiz until that point, was caught in possession when seeking to launch a Hearts attack. Still, McGowan would have expected his team-mates to defend better as Sasa Papac was permitted time and space to cross for Naismith, who in turn rose without opposition.

Naismith used this match to prove once again that he retains an unedifying capacity to whine like a child under the most basic of challenges. When he sets his mind towards playing, though, the former Kilmarnock man has obvious talent.

Surprisingly, Rangers failed to gain much momentum from Naismith's intervention. Papac wasted their best chance of the closing stages by shooting tamely at Marian Kello while Ortiz summed up a maiden 75 minutes to forget in light blue by miscontrolling when played in by Steven Whittaker.

At the other end, Obua stung the palms of McGregor with a fierce half-volley. Few could deny the fairness of shared points, with Hearts unquestionably the happier.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer