Rangers edge closer to Celtic as dogged Hearts are broken late on
RANGERS 2 Murphy (40), Martin (89) HEARTS 0
Can we have a title race?
The question hung in the air like an inviting cross waiting to be nodded home after a result which saw the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership reduced to six points.
However, while Rangers manager Graeme Murty was more than happy to use his head, it was not to throw down any gauntlet to Celtic, rather to deliver a measured assessment of where the two clubs are at heading into the final stretch.
“You guys (the press) can say that all you want, as far as I am concerned they are still the team to beat at the top of the table,” he said.
“While I am sure there will be many interested eyes from our group on the game at Pittodrie, we will just concentrate on ourselves and make sure we finish the season as well as we possibly can.
“I am not sure we are even in Celtic’s minds. They are top of the league for good reason.
“They are going to take care of themselves and play as well as they possibly can, all we can do is worry about us and make sure we do our job.
“We did our job today and I still think we can get better.
“That, for me as a manager, is a very happy thought because we have a group of people who are now striving to push and kick on and take everyone with them.”
Indeed. As his opposite number Craig Levein noted, it said it all about this one that by far the best of the Hearts players was their goalkeeper, Jon McLaughlin.
Forced into action by decent efforts from distance by first Sean Goss then Greg Docherty, he was into double figures for saves by the time the final whistle blew.
With the keeper in form and Hearts dogged and disciplined at the back it was clear it was going to take something special for Rangers to break them down.
Just before the break it arrived in the shape of what was a terrific opening goal.
James Tavernier’s chipped ball inside found Greg Docherty in space deep in the Hearts half.
The midfielder feinted to shoot but instead slid a pass into the box for Jamie Murphy to run on to.
Arriving to the ball at pace, Murphy then displayed technique, composure and cleverness in equal measure to control it with his left foot, slalom past John Souttar and keeper McLaughlin, before switching to his right to pass a shot into the net.
“I was just telling him to hit it, when he didn’t I was telling him to hit it again and he took another touch,” said Murty, reliving the moment.
‘That’s why we got Jamie. The people we brought in have quality and composure and can deal with the football in the manner that we like.”
It could and should have been two earlier than it was with Josh Windass unable to cash in on a quartet of decent opportunities which came his way.
He failed to get a contact on the first, shanked the second high into the Copland Road End, shot straight at McLaughlin for the third.
By the time he curled the fourth wide, the tuts from the home support had grown to howls of anguish, eclipsed for volume only by the booing which accompanied the arrival of Steven Naismith on the pitch as a Hearts substitute.
Russell Martin’s late goal, a tap-in at the back post from a Candeias cross, left them happy.
“My last goal was April last year so maybe that’s why I went a bit mad in the celebration,” said the defender of his first score in a Rangers shirt.
“That was a tap-in from a yard with my left foot as well.
“It took me a while to recover. I don’t know where the knee-slide came from but they’re killing me now.”
And if the conclusion it gave the game was hard on the Hearts keeper, who was excellent, it was anything but on his teammates, who were not.