HOME’S WHERE HURT IS AGAIN FOR RANGERS BRAVE H
Invincibles invisible as Hearts put press on Brendan’s Bhoys and bring historic run to abrupt end
Rangers 1 St Johnstone 3
BRUNO ALVES has been there, done it and bought the T-shirt for just about every scenario a footballer can face.
So he isn’t about to panic over Rangers’ fourth home defeat of the season at the weekend – even if he admits that losing so many games on home soil is unacceptable.
Compare that to only one draw – at Firhill – and a solitary defeat at Dens Park in the league and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that Rangers are far more comfortable away from home where a noisy travelling support gets behind them and, perhaps, crucially, is less quick to get on the players’ back when a pass goes astray.
Alves (inset) gets all that, but he knows that if Rangers are to eke anything out of this fraught season that has seen the man who brought him to Scotland, Pedro Caixinha, axed and the Ibrox Board still to appoint a permanent replacement almost two months later, they are going to have to be stronger at Ibrox.
“It’s very difficult,” said Alves (inset). “We are disappointed after four wins. It shouldn’t happen, especially at home. But we are trying to do better. We need to learn from our mistakes, keep moving forward and try to win our next games.
“It’s difficult to find a
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reason. We had the motivation after four wins. Sometimes these things happen in football. We need to watch the game again, see what we did wrong and try not to make the same mistakes in our next games.
“It is very disappointing to lose at home because we get more motivation and support from the fans. “We need to know how to handle the pressure because the pressure will always be there for the big teams.”
Meanwhile, Tony Pulis is in the frame to take over at Rangers.
And the 59-year-old has opened the door on a move by insisting the Ibrox outfit are “one of the great clubs of British football.”
The gaffer, who left West Brom last month spells with Crystal Palace and Stoke, said: “That is one of the great clubs of British football.
“If you put Celtic and Rangers in the [English] Premier League, I am telling you, the Premier League don’t want them because they are that big.
“I don’t think anybody can question the support or the size of the club.” after THE run had to end some time. Not many thought it would go like this though as Hearts took a wrecking ball to the Invincibles. The new look Tynecastle witnessed it’s first magical moment as the Jambos completely demolished Celtic to rip up the re- cord breaking run in sensational style.
Defeat has been in the post for Celts and Hearts provided the first class delivery.
Craig Levein’s men produced a masterclass as clapped out Celts slumped to their worst defeat to the Gorgie men in since Charles Dickens was still using his quill.
You’d need to go back to 1895 to get a win like this and it was the first time Hearts have rattled four past Celts since 1972.
The Jambos were sensational as youngster Harry Cochrane and Kyle Lafferty pounced in the first half before David Milankovic grabbed a double after the break to draw an emphatic line under the Parkhead side’s 69-match unbeaten run.
Celts were always going to lose eventually – but no one expected them to get completely clattered.
The Hoops simply couldn’t cope with Hearts pressing them high up the pitch.
It wasn’t just a bad day at the office for Celtic – it was like morning after the Christmas party. The Hoops defence went to pieces, the midfield chased shadows and the attack was non existant.
But this wasn’t about the champions. This was about a superb Hearts performance. It’s been far from a breeze for Levein since he was convince to return to the dugout.
But there’s been signs of a resurgence in recent weeks. Key men are coming back from injury and kinds like Cochrane have been a breath of fresh air.
At 16 the midfielder is some talent. He could still be leaving out milk and cookies for Santa but here he was wrapping up three points and an incredible