Rangers closed to within six points of Celtic, the Premiership leaders, with an impressive over Hearts at Ibrox.
Both sides had chances to score in an open and entertaining first half before a fine solo goal from the Rangers wide-man Jamie Murphy four minutes before the break gave them the advantage.
Graeme Murty’s side dominated the second half and should have increased their lead on several occasions before their defender Russell Martin, on loan from Norwich, stabbed the ball in from close range with two minutes remaining to clinch the points.
Celtic play Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday and while they still have a healthy lead they will know their rivals will be waiting to capitalise on any slip-ups during the run-in.
The Hearts keeper, Jon McLaughlin, was the busiest player. In the seventh minute, and with the home side spraying the ball around with confidence, he stretched to tip a long-distance drive from Sean Goss over the bar for a corner.
McLaughlin later produced a fine double save, first parrying midfielder Greg Docherty’s left-footed drive from 20 yards before blocking an attempt by striker Alfredo Morelos, who had followed in.
Hearts responded positively as the play raced from end to end. In the 18th minute, the Rangers keeper, Wes Foderingham, flew to his left to push Kyle Lafferty’s curled shot out for a corner and the former Rangers striker had two attempts from the corner before Rangers smuggled the ball clear.
Foderingham then made a fine save from a Ross Callachan drive and at the other end Morelos headed a Declan John cross over the bar before Murphy, on loan from Brighton, fired a shot wide of the far post.
Four minutes before the break, Murphy broke the deadlock in style. When the Rangers right-back, James Tavernier, passed to Docherty outside the box he quickly played in the former Motherwell player who rounded Aaron Hughes, John Souttar and McLaughlin before slipping the ball into the net.
Rangers made a storming start to the second half. Josh Windass scooped a Morelos pass over the bar from 12 yards with McLaughlin making another save from Docherty minutes later before denying Windass following a swift Rangers break.
In the 65th minute, as Rangers dominated, McLaughlin made yet another save, this time from a Morelos drive.
The home side’s wastefulness in front of goal continued as David Bates headed a Tavernier cross over the bar from 10 yards before McLaughlin tipped a Windass free-kick past the post for a corner.
Rangers kept the pressing and in the 88th minute, when Daniel Candeias flashed the ball across the goal, Martin was there to knock in from a couple of yards and score his first Rangers goal.
Murty told RangersTV: “I’m very pleased because Hearts made it very difficult for us at times.
“If we’d been a bit more clinical, as we were last week, we could have had more goals. I was more nervous today because there were bits we needed to get better at but we were worthy winners.”
The Hearts manager, Craig Levein, spoke of his disappointment to BBC Scotland: “We had 10 or 15 minutes I was happy with and the rest not so much.
“Jon McLaughlin was fantastic and our centre-backs had a lot of work to do. It’s a day for consigning to the bin.”
Roundup
David Templeton’s late goal pushed Hamilton above Partick and out of the Premiership’s bottom two with a 2-1 win over their rivals. Templeton reacted quickest to a parry from Tomas Cerny to give Accies the three points and move them five points ahead of Ross County at the bottom.
Thistle took the lead with a Connor Salmon penalty after nine minutes before Antonio Rojano equalised two minutes later.
Murray Davidson’s two first-half goals earned St Johnstone a 2-0 win over Ross County.
Neither side had seriously threatened before Saints opened the scoring with the first serious attempt from either side with a well-worked goal in the 29th minute. Scott Tanser found Steven MacLean who set up Davidson and Davidson shot into the bottom corner from 10 yards.
St Johnstone, looking for their first home victory in five months, gained confidence from the lead and doubled it five minutes before half-time. Chris Kane centred and the ball eventually fell for Davidson 20 yards from goal and Scott Fox could not stop his powerful effort.
Neil Lennon was sent to the stand as Hibernian squandered a two-goal lead at Kilmarnock. Lennon was sent off by Kevin Clancy following Kris Boyd’s goal that levelled the scores at 2-2 after a disputed penalty for a Ryan Porteous handball. Florian Kamberi and Porteous had put Hibs two goals up in the first nine minutes but a superb strike from Jordan Jones and Boyd’s effort brought Killie level in the space of three second-half minutes.
Craig Tanner’s 33rd-minute strike settled the match between Motherwell and Dundee at Dens Park. The win was the third that Stephen Robinson’s side have recorded at Dundee this season. Neil McCann’s side drop to ninth in the table.
Nial Briggs
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