Rangers today continued their return to form by beating 2nd place Hearts who now seem to be on a slippery slope under Graham Rix.
Alex McLeish had bad news going into the game, firstly Fernando Ricksen was ruled out for a month and then Dado Prso who was already sidelined has been ruled out for another month.
With Alan Hutton also injured, Alex McLeish was forced to play Ian Murray at right back and bring Steven Smith into left back. Andrews and Kyrgiakos continued at centre back while McLeish went with a midfield of Burke, Ferguson, Malcolm and Namouchi. On form Buffel and Lovenkrands were again up front.
The early stages of the game were messy as both teams tried to close each other down. Passes were going astray all over the place.
Chris Burke was Rangers best player in the early stages and caused the Hearts defence plenty of problems. The best chance early on fell to Hamed Namouchi who had his header saved superbly by Craig Gordon.
Marvin Andrews had a glorious chance to open the scoring but he skyed the ball right into the air from underneath the crossbar.
Rangers eventually broke the deadlock however. Bob Malcolm’s free kick found Lovenkrands via Hamed Namouchi and the Danish striker knocked it in from six yards for his 5th goal in 3 games.
So Rangers went in with a deserved 1-0 lead at the interval and although they didn’t score again in the second half it was fairly comfortable. Hearts didn’t pose any threat whatsoever and things were made worse for them when Mikoliunas was sent packing for upending Barry Ferguson.
Mikoliunas had came on as a subsitute but he didn’t last too long and let his team down with the red card. Hearts look like they are heading in the wrong direction under Graham Rix and must dearly wish they had George Burley back at the helm.
Slowly but surely Rangers are regaining their form and clawing back the points in their quest to get back into a Champions League position. They are still 11 points behind Hearts but if Hearts continue like this then it shouldn’t be long before Rangers close the gap.
Manager Rating
Alex McLeish 8/10 – Things are on the up for Eck.
Opponent Rating
Graham Rix 4/10 – Isn’t doing a good job of impressing the Hearts fans so far.