Rangers stroll v Hearts – verdict

Rangers finally got our horrific March monkey off our backs last night with a far superior performance against a midtable Hearts in bitty form – this was the sort of match we absolutely had to win to sustain our grip on second, and Steven Gerrard put out a very unexpected system and team – above and beyond the personnel losses he was compensating for.

It was a curious set up, and we hand it to the boss, a left field selection nailed it and it was evident after only a few minutes and Jermain Defoe’s unfortunate offside goal that the home side meant business.

Pretty much the whole team stepped up – it wasn’t a magical performance, but it was a Rangers determined to not let this season crumble into a whimper.

Now we must admit there is a slight condition – Hearts are a pretty average side and they’re the one team Rangers have had 100% success against this season. A clean sweep of wins against Levein’s men meant last night really had home advantage times 10, but with Rangers’ form of late anything was possible.

And thankfully a tight performance and enough players stepping up did the trick, which will please the manager hugely.

Furthermore, Celtic struggled over in Paisley to overcome a pretty weak SPL side in St Mirren, so if us Rangers fans are lacking in generosity towards a win over Hearts, put it into context that Neil Lennon’s Celtic have struggled v Dundee and St Mirren, among others.

It was a big improvement, but a further caveat we must remember is March was against Celtic, Killie, Aberdeen twice and Hibs – all sides we have struggled against this season. Hearts have been a stroll.

Either way, it gives us a little momentum, and arrests a bad run – hopefully the morale is boosted hugely and it is repeated v Motherwell this weekend.