Rangers cut Hearts’ lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to just two points as they won a frantic game 4-2 at Ibrox on Sunday evening.
Already five points behind the Tynecastle outfit ahead of the game, and in third place following Celtic’s last-gasp 3-2 victory against Kilmarnock earlier in the day, the hosts went behind early in Glasgow after Marc Leonard seized on a slack pass from Emmanuel Fernandez to fire the visitors into a 16th-minute lead.
However, a Michael Steinwender own goal quickly restored parity just two minutes later, though Claudio Braga’s sublime header put Derek McInnes’ team back into the lead on the half-hour mark. The outstanding Youssef Chermiti smashed the home side level again five minutes before the break, and the Portuguese striker repeated the trick on 57 minutes when he connected to Andreas Skov Olsen’s pinpoint cross to bullet home Rangers’ third goal and completed his hat-trick when he finished off a breakaway in injury-time.
Here’s how The Scotsman rated the performance of each player as Rangers beat Hearts 4-2 at Ibrox.
17. Andreas Skov Olsen (Rangers) - 7
Poor early pass in good position early on, and threw himself over in the area unnecessarily to try to win a penalty shortly afterwards. Improved massively in the second-half, and his cross for Rangers' third was pinpoint. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
18. Islam Chesnokov (Hearts) - 4
Barely touched the ball and was taken off at half-time. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group
19. Youssef Chermiti (Rangers) - 10
Played his part in Rangers' first goal when he forced a save out of Schwolow. He has his doubters, but he's a real workhorse, and his effort paid off when he slammed home the second while still appearing to be limping from a previous challenge. A handful and seemingly the man for the big occasion this season. Hat-trick hero. Outstanding. | PA Photo: PA
20. Alexandros Kyziridis (Hearts) - 5
Unusually quiet. Had a long-range effort late in the first-half, which Butland gathered easily. | SNS Group Photo: SNS Group