A TASTE OF WHAT’S TO COME?

Rangers’ easy win at Hearts is a pointer to next season

RANGERS could quite justifiably have mustered the mocking chant: ‘Can we play you every week?’ as a rousing reaction to the easiest of their four top-flight victories over Hearts this season.

More likely, manager Steven Gerrard was posing the question: ‘How can I make Rangers play like this every week?’

For if he can, Celtic won’t be granted a pass like this campaign which has helped them to the brink of picking up their eighth Premiership crown on the spin.

This emphatic success for Rangers, delaying Celtic’s confirmation as champions by at least another week, does not even register as a crumb of comfort.

However, it may be a pointer to more competitive times at the top in exactly 12 months from now.

Rangers have given glimpses of highclass form like this before, yet too often followed an impressive step forward with a couple of stumbles back, thereby undermining chances of Gerrard seriously testing Celtic over the stretch.

Take their previous visit to Tynecastle on December 2. They scaled the top of the table for the first time under Gerrard (below) thanks to a battling 2-1 win.

Four days later, they lost at home to Aberdeen and then dropped two points at Dens Park. There is the Rangers league campaign in a nutshell.

Disruption to momentum is a theme that Craig Levein has tired of, too, yet his complaints centre around a freakish helping of misfortune with injuries.

The latest to befall Hearts initially appeared to be Peter Haring, who battled through thanks to painkillers to aid Scottish Cup progress last weekend and is now a doubt for the final at Hampden with a groin problem.

But then, typical of the campaign, another one bit the dust. Sean Clare was taken ill and replaced in the starting line-up by Craig Wighton, with Clevid Dikamona promoted to the bench.

Wighton took his place wide on the right of midfield but, perhaps with not enough time to digest all the instruction, was quizzing Levein for information early on.

That switch might not have been central to the problem of Hearts botching their pressing plan but it certainly was no help.

If his manager had warned him not to be caught dwelling on the ball during that touchline exchange, then it was advice spurned by the late call-up.

Jon Flanagan took maximum advantage with a typically fullblooded challenge which sent Rangers breaking swiftly. Glen Kamara turned and fed a scampering Jermain Defoe, who breezed in behind and tucked a trademark finish past the advancing Bobby Zlamal. Looking to the future with a 36-year-old sounds an odd strategy. Yet it is hard to escape the feeling that a fully-fit Defoe, who turns 37 in October, would be an asset to Rangers’ title ambitions next season. He is a dream for a passer like Kamara to link up with and being supported closely by two advanced midfielders like Daniel Candeias and Scott Arfield worked to create difficulties for Hearts. The late-season surge for the title was over before Defoe could get motoring. Scoring on his debut against Kilmarnock counted for nothing as defeat there in January handed the initiative back to Celtic that they have been in no mood to return. An 81st-minute flashpoint with Bobby Burns did not reflect well on the veteran striker, however, as he appeared to aim a flick of the boot at a tender area of the floored Irish teenager’s anatomy. Referee John Beaton doled out a yellow card.

To Levein’s dismay, the affliction of being caught in possession infiltrated the centre of his midfield for the second goal.

Haring’s replacement Oli Bozanic was pounced upon by Ryan Jack, who didn’t rest on his laurels after sending Rangers racing in the right direction. Candeias seized on the switch then laid a pass into Jack’s stride.

As if he does this as often as Defoe, Jack was composed and clinical, sliding a low shot to Zlamal’s right.

Uche Ikpeazu and Wighton were both wild and wayward when presented with opportunities, so Allan McGregor’s first save came five minutes after the break.

Christophe Berra climbed above Nikola Katic to nod a header on target, only for McGregor to claw clear on his line.

But by then Hearts were already in the territory of scoring for consolation only because Katic had thumped in a third for Rangers. A Candeias delivery, the product of a short corner with Steven Davis, was allowed to drop kindly for the Croat to slide home under the nose of Zlamal.

Hearts did, however, seek to blame someone else other than themselves on this occasion, venting fury at an offside claim gone missing in the build-up to the set-piece.

When substitute Steven MacLean turned

in Jake Mulraney’s cross with quarter of an hour to play, a stream of Hearts fans had already made for the exits.

That was a shame as the build-up of quick passes was the best move of the afternoon from a home side improved by the introduction of teenager Harry Cochrane.

The victim of five separate injuries this season, Cochrane will be nursed through the remainder of the campaign but remains an intriguing option for May 25.

Hearts left much behind at Hampden, unable to match the intensity demanded by Gerrard and delivered by his players after their weekend break.

As Rangers discovered to great cost when Championship winners under Mark Warburton, easing off in the final weeks of a league campaign can impact detrimentally on a Scottish Cup final bid.

With an Edinburgh derby up next for Hearts, Levein is convinced his side won’t let up in the league, saying: ‘We’ve got a lot to play for between now and the final. These players have places to play for.’