Hearts ended Rangers' unbeaten start to the season with a stunning 4-2 win at Tynecastle.
Hearts win six-goal thriller at Tynecastle
Hearts ended Rangers' unbeaten start to the season with a stunning 4-2 win at Tynecastle.
Goals from Andrew Driver, Ibrahim Tall, Michael Stewart and Kestutis Ivaskevicius meant Hearts ran out winners, with Rangers now having to regroup before their UEFA Champions League opener against Stuttgart next Wednesday.
Hearts broke the deadlock on 13 minutes when Marius Zaliukas won the aerial battle with Carlos Cuellar before trying to set up Ksanavicius in front of goal.
Cuellar intercepted but his clearance fell only as far as Driver who lashed into the top corner from just outside the area, his effort taking a deflection off Alan Hutton.
Doubled their lead
Hearts doubled their lead after 26 minutes when the ball broke kindly to Tall who rifled a right-footed shot from 20 yards past Allan McGregor.
Barry Ferguson and Jean-Claude Darcheville were thrown into the action for the second half and Ferguson's introduction had an almost immediate impact on the game. He won Rangers a penalty after being felled in the box by Neilson and Daniel Cousin stepped up to despatch low under the body of Steve Banks after 48 minutes.
Penalty
Hearts won a penalty on 65 minutes when the referee ruled Ivaskevicius had been fouled in the box by Hutton and Stewart rifled low into McGregor's bottom right-hand corner.
The home side were now on a high and Ivaskevicius helped himself to a goal with 20 minutes to go as Rangers' hopes of a comeback grew ever fainter.
He turned Hutton on the edge of the area before driving low under the body of McGregor, who should have done better.
Rangers pulled a goal back three minutes later when Darcheville held off his marker to collect a long ball from Kevin Thomson before setting up DaMarcus Beasley for the left-footed angled drive. But it proved too little, too late for the Ibrox side, who returned to Glasgow empty-handed for the first time this season.
