Rangers 1 Hearts 2

Mar 4 2012 by Mark Guidi, Sunday Mail

RANGERS crashed to their third home defeat on the trot but what happens on the park doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

If it did then Ally McCoist would be under pressure to hold on to his job and some of his players would be getting hounded out of Ibrox rather than made redundant tomorrow.

It looked like Gers would be heading for victory when skipper Steven Davis fired them into a half-time lead.

But goals from Ian Black and Jamie Hamill piled on more pain for the Ibrox support after losses to Dundee United and Kilmarnock.

Paulo Sergio’s side were thrilled with their first win in six games but this was another dark day for McCoist’s men.

The Gers boss put out a fairly strong line-up but it’s the last time he’ll be able to do that this season as several stars get ready to pack their bags.

Lee McCulloch, Dorin Goian, Carlos Bocanegra and David Healy had that look of resignation about them at full-time as they left the pitch.

Emotional scenes, no doubt, but the hardest part is still to come. McCoist will have to watch certain players walk out the door and tears will be shed.

This was the first game Gers had played at Ibrox since they lost 1-0 to Killie just five days after going into administration.

Now the club is facing up to the realistic prospect of liquidation.

Hearts produced their best football of the campaign when the players had to wait nervously for their wages.

Since their pay has arrived in the bank on time, they’ve looked out of sorts – and that has led to Sergio fearing the axe from Vladimir Romanov.

The Portuguese coach should be safe for a while now but this victory looked far from likely in the first half.

Sergio employed Gary Glen as a lone striker and he was left totally isolated.

Hearts offered little threat going forward but Rangers weren’t much better. Youngster Rhys McCabe performed well, though, after being handed a debut in central midfield.

He almost bagged a dream goal in 15 minutes but his 22-yard strike was well held by Jamie MacDonald.

The Jambos keeper was almost beaten three minutes before the interval but Black nipped in to nick the ball off Andy Little’s toe.

Gers did make the breakthrough in stoppage time as Little swept over a cross that Davis fired home.

Sergio made a change at the break when he took off stopper Darren Barr and replaced him with former Celtic striker Craig Beattie.

That move gave the Jambos more attacking threat and they levelled in 58 minutes. Andy Driver burst to life and skinned Ross Perry before crossing to the back post. It was met by Scott Robinson but his effort was cleared off the line by Bocanegra.

The American’s clearance dropped to Black 25 yards out and he looped a stunning strike over the outstretched arm of Allan McGregor.

Rangers should have been awarded a penalty 20 minutes from time when McCulloch appeared to be pushed by a combination of Marius Zaliukas and Danny Grainger. However, ref Crawford Allan waved play on before giving Hearts a spot-kick seven minutes later.

Goian was penalised for holding Andy Webster at a Grainger corner and Hamill netted at the second attempt after his penalty was parried by McGregor.

Gers reacted with fury and goalkeeping coach Jim Stewart was spoken to by whistler Allan, who also booked McCulloch and Davis.

McCoist’s side tried to get back on level terms but their final ball was poor. If they slip up in their next SPL game at Tannadice then Celtic can win the league with a win at Ibrox. And the result will definitely matter that day.

Taken from the Daily Record