By Craig Rae.
Rangers limped to a 1-0 victory over Hearts at Ibrox to slightly ease the pressure on the team after the defeat to St Johnstone at the weekend.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst made one change from the side that lost in Perth with Rabbi Matondo coming in for the injured Fashion Sakala.
Before the match, Ibrox paid tribute to the brave servicemen and women who bravely sacrificed their lives for our country as the stadium impeccably observed a minute of silence with a poppy display being shown to mark the occasion.
Rangers looked the brighter of the two sides in the early exchanges, but it was the visitors that had the first chance of the game as Josh Ginnelly somehow found himself clean through on goal and despite putting the ball past McGregor, Ben Davies intercepted and put it out for a corner.
It was very similar to Sunday in which crosses were constantly being made into the box with no takers, but a good bit of play allowed Ryan Kent to finally be in some space, but John Lundstram fired the ball over the bar when the cutback was made as Rangers looked to take the lead.
Antonio Colak then had a decent chance as he softly volleyed from a Tavernier corner right into the hands of Craig Gordon who hadn’t really been tested at this point.
The manager brought on Scott Arfield for James Sands at half time, it seemed like the American was carrying a bit of a knock in the first half and the change was made with attacking intent.
Tillman had a half chance a couple of minutes after the restart when his nonchalant effort was put out by Gordon for a corner which Rangers once again failed to capitalise on.
Scott Wright came on for Rabbi Matondo on the hour mark and he looked to make an instant impact as he skinned Alex Cochrane, passing to Arfield who played in Colak but he could only shoot straight at Craig Gordon.
The breakthrough was finally made in the 65th minute after a brilliant piece of trickery from Ryan Kent on the left-hand side allowed him to thread the ball through to Borna Barisic who picked out Malik Tillman to expertly converted for his fourth Rangers goal.
Antonio Colak then made way for Alfredo Morelos as the lead was looking to be added on, the Colombian was quiet until later in the game when his 84th minute shot fired high over the bar after good work from Scott Arfield as the game dragged out with no further chances as Rangers looked to get the points secured, which they did.
A win is a win of course, but the support will be less than impressed after a lacklustre performance and all that can be hoped is that three points can be picked up in Paisley on Saturday before the World Cup break.
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, King, Davies, Barisic, Sands (Arfield), Lundstram, Tillman (Kamra), Kent, Matondo (Wright), Colak
Hearts: Gordon, Smith, Shankland, Atkinson, Devlin, Rowles, Halliday, Cochrane, Sibbick, Ginnelly, Snodgrass
Attendance: 48,376
