Severin ties Rangers to the top

Rangers 1 Heart of Midlothian

Celtic may be under scrutiny now they are without Henrik Larsson's goals, but nagging doubts about goalscoring are just as visible on the other side of Glasgow. Not for the first time this season, Rangers were handcuffed yesterday by poor finishing, and it required an own goal from Scott Severin to secure a victory which deserved a more substantial margin.

Alex McLeish's side actually increased their lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League to six points, thanks to Celtic's postponement yesterday, but the failure to kill off Hearts will rankle with the manager, and could have been more much more costly had Lorenzo Amoruso not denied Mark de Vries a stoppage-time equaliser.

There was little doubt that there was still some bad blood coursing through this contest from the CIS Cup semi-final 11 days earlier. Hearts had complained about a brutal tackle from Fernando Ricksen that had gone unpunished when the Rangers midfielder had already been shown a yellow card. So perhaps there was little surprise that Ricksen should be sought out for an early reminder, with Stephane Mahe, the Hearts full-back, booked for bringing him down.

However, in the frenetic opening exchanges there were passages of fine football. Hearts twice threatened in the first eight minutes, with the pace of Gary Wales taking him clear on both occasions before he was squeezed out by the Rangers defence, most notably Lorenzo Amoruso.

Four minutes later, Rangers had the ball in the net when Claudio Caniggia raced clear and poked a pass to Ronald de Boer outside him, but the Dutchman – whose original offside when the move began had been overlooked – became "active" when he tried to profit from his colleague's zest and the goal was rightfully disallowed.

Hearts were riding their luck, though Jean-Louis Valois almost snatched a breakthrough with a curling shot that Stefan Klos touched over, but the leaders eventually went ahead five minutes before the interval. Neil MacFarlane's foul on Mikel Arteta allowed the Spaniard to swing over a free-kick that arced over goalkeeper Tepi Moilanen, thanks to the unfortunate head of his team-mate Scott Severin.

Then Ferguson whipped a free-kick just over the bar, before the pace of substitute Peter Lovenkrands opened up Hearts, only for Mahe to slide and hook the the ball away from goal. Rangers simply could not get into the comfort zone. When Moilanen denied De Boer by palming a volley wide, the anxiety began to filter audibly around the stadium.

Hearts made their final gamble, throwing on Andy Kirk for the final six minutes of the match as they played with four forwards. It almost earned a reward when Severin tossed in a free-kick in stoppage time which broke to Mark de Vries, but the striker's shot was blocked by a posse of blue shirts.

Rangers 1 Heart of Midlothian 0
Severin og 41

Half-time 1-0 Attendance: 49,459