I watched Rangers beat league leaders 4-2 and noted Ibrox swagger, Chermiti pendulum and why Hearts are still beating

The Portuguese striker proved he was the man for the big occasion yet again as his trio of strikes, coupled with a Michael Steinwender own goal, handed Danny Rohl’s side a big three points in the title race, despite Hearts twice taking the lead through Marc Leonard and Claudio Braga.

On a monumental weekend at the top of the standings, here are our three key takeaways from Rangers 4-2 Hearts...

The Chermiti pendulum

A penny for the thoughts of Kevin Thelwell? The former Rangers sporting director took the bulk of the flak for the club’s poor start to the season, with the big fee shelled out on Chermiti used as a stick to beat the 52-year-old. You can’t blame the fans either; the former Everton forward didn’t look anywhere near the type of signing the club needed - and especially not at the fee paid. The frustration that poured out of the Rangers support was completely understandable, and yet somehow, just months later, Chermiti is bordering on becoming a cult hero.

Quite how it has happened, no one is really sure, but the lumbering, underconfident frontman seems to flip the script whenever a big game comes around. Just as he did when he bagged a match-winning double at Celtic Park six weeks ago, he looked every inch a Rangers number 9 as he rag-dolled two of the league’s most wily and experienced centre-halves in Craig Halkett and Stuart Findlay during the crucial win in Govan. Young players, especially centre-forwards, just need a little bit of patience and understanding. Fluctuation in form during the infancy of a player’s career is certainly not a foreign concept after all, is it?

As his name rang out across all four corners of the stadium, the hitman afforded himself a wry smile. There’s something very Cyriel Dessers about young Chermiti. Doubters? Plenty. Turning up when it matters? Perhaps the most promising aspect of his growth over the past two months is his relationship with the home support, which also shares similarities with that of the enigmatic Dessers. As both managers attested to after the game, Ibrox was properly rocking, perhaps for the first time since that famous Europa League run, and it was the tireless Chermiti who conducted the noise.

Ibrox swagger

Blazing a trail of glory from the playoff qualifying rounds all the way through to the decisive semi-final second leg against Red Bull Leipzig, Rangers’ run to the Europa League final in 2022 came against all the odds and caught European football off guard. The catalyst to that success? A raucous, defiant Ibrox crowd that refused to accept defeat, literally shaking their famous stadium to its core as Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side trojan horsed their way to the final in Seville. Since then, and in particular during the ill-fated Russell Martin reign earlier this year, that atmosphere had vanished amid the apathy felt in and around what had become a broken football club.

Introduced to an increasingly apathetic Rangers fanbase in late October, head coach Danny Rohl sat alongside under-fire chairman Andrew Cavenagh, with the club having won just one of their opening seven league games, and eighth in the table ahead of his first home game against Kilmarnock. The 36-year-old boss has eradicated that apathy, injected a dose of resoluteness and dragged Rangers back into title contention. But for the first time in almost half a decade, he saw the strength of the Ibrox atmosphere during the 4-2 win over Hearts.

Despite trailing twice - and once via their own mistake - the piercing noise that vibrated around Ibrox throughout the huge victory over Hearts was a throwback to those famous European nights that felt so long ago when Rohl took over the club just 112 days ago. Ibrox has its swagger back, and it gives Rohl and his players a huge advantage as they look to knock Hearts off their perch and wrestle the title from the hands of their nearest rivals, Celtic.

Hearts are still beating

Hearts have had an incredible season. They still sit two points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership despite their loss in Glasgow. However, after losing two of their last three league games, the disappointment is natural. The expectations have been raised, and thus the defeats and the loss of ground in the title race feel tougher to swallow when they land in the Jambos’ throat.

However, the refreshing calmness that emanated from Hearts' head coach Derek McInnes and goalscorer Claudio Braga in the Ibrox press room was a strong reminder to both Rangers and Celtic that they are far from out of it this season. Amid the explosion of joy from the home support and the smiling faces in the corridors of Ibrox, it would have been easy for the visiting side to have walked into the room full of waiting press with sullen faces and a hint of what might have been.

It wasn’t an easy defeat to front up to. Twice in the lead, twice pegged back fairly instantly, before being ultimately beaten in a game that hands both of their title rivals a swing of momentum. What could have been eight points clear is now just two.

Hearts have had an answer for almost every question they’ve been asked this season, as the face of the club, their 54-year-old boss, has refused to get too high. So why should he and his players get too low now after defeat? The Tynecastle outfit has 11 cup finals to come. Whether or not they win the title this year, they’ve proven they’re a force to be reckoned with for the season to come, with astute management and smart recruitment. This Hearts side has a real heartbeat, and only the most foolish will predict it to flatline after a tough few weeks.

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