By Duncan Wright
In a quirk of Phillipe Clement’s short tenure as Rangers manager the Belgian has faced up against Hearts manager Steven Naismith three times in his first ten games. The three fixtures have taken place at different venues each time – Ibrox, Hampden and Tynecastle. And whilst the venue may have changed on each occasion, the result has not as once again Rangers emerged victorious against the team many people see as Scotland’s third force.
Hearts came into the game in excellent form, losing only one of their last five fixtures – a league cup semi-final defeat to Rangers – and after some disappointing early season results, had sneaked into third place in the league before this evening’s game. There was one enforced change for Rangers with Ridvan Yilmaz starting at left back and Borna Barasic missing out with a minor muscle injury. There was also a change up front with Danilo replacing Dessers however Ross McCausland kept his place on the right and Todd Cantwell was once again in his favoured No.10 position.
The first twenty minutes of the game was, frankly, awful. Littered with stray passes, heavy touches, and needless fouls from both teams it was a difficult watch. Neither team could find their rhythm and the pulsating Tynecastle atmosphere was noticeably absent. The swathes of empty seats around each of the Tynecastle stands made the decision to offer Rangers less than six hundred tickets for the fixture bizarre. Even stranger was the decision from someone within Tynecastle to use almost a third of the Roseburn stand as ‘segregation’. Scottish football once again demonstrating how best to eat itself to death.
The game eventually sparked into life in the 24th minute when Jack Butland was forced into an excellent save after a shot from just outside the six-yard box by Hearts captain, Lawrence Shankland. If Butland’s save was excellent, Tavernier’s block was even better as he stopped an almost certain goal from the resulting follow-up shot. Less than ten minutes later Tavernier added another assist to his ridiculous total. Receiving the ball near his own corner flag he played a one-two with McCausland before driving into the Hearts half and releasing Sima with a pass reminiscent of Cantwell’s pass to the same player on Sunday vs St Mirren. Sima ensured he held up his end of the bargain, stroking the ball through Zander Clark’s legs to put Rangers 1-0 up.
In first half injury time Rangers should have been two goals to the good. The ball came in from the right and fell into the path of Danilo 6 yards from goal. He chose to take a touch before striking the ball giving Clark the chance to make the save and although a good save, the striker should have done better. Five minutes into the second half Danilo was given an opportunity to make up for his earlier miss when Clark dropped a simple cross ball. With the goal gaping the Brazilian striker managed to find the blocking leg of the Hearts defender instead of seeing the net bulge. Some will argue that the striker is at least getting into the right positions, but the missed chances keep racking up for the striker signed from Feyenoord in the summer and he needs to find a clinical edge soon.
Prolificacy in front of goal was to be the theme of the second half for Rangers as they continued to waste opportunities to kill off a Hearts team who had offered little in an attacking sense. Yilmaz shot wide from a good position, before then blasting over from six yards, following Lundstram’s long-range effort that Clark failed to hold. Goldson had a chance from a header and Roofe chose to play in Sima instead of driving for goal whilst Sima almost scored after a simple long ball from Goldson saw him in on goal once again. His effort was just past the post but with eleven goals to his name, and currently joint top scorer in Scotland, he has more credit in the bank than some of his teammates.
The final ten minutes saw Hearts mount some pressure on the Rangers defence for the first time in the game but despite a plethora of corners and long throws, Butland wasn’t troubled other than a long-range effort from Vargas.
Phillipe Clement will be delighted to have chalked up another three points as his side aim to keep as much pressure as possible on Celtic in the league. There is no doubt however he will have concerns about his side’s profligacy in front of goal. This is perhaps offset by the fact that defensively Rangers have only conceded seven goals in fifteen league games. Jack Butland is the rock upon which that defensive record is built. Butland, alongside Abdallah Sima’s goals, continue to give Rangers the opportunity to win games. There is no doubt Clement will want others in the team to carry some of the load and give the team, himself, and the fans some breathing space in the upcoming fixtures.
