Simmons saves Hearts

Heart of Midlothian 2 Rangers

The rebels who last week blew up a railway line which has prompted insurers to shun Rangers' Uefa Cup trip to Russia this week were outdone by young Stephen Simmons at Tynecastle last night.

The Hearts teenager struck a goal of unbelievable quality to stop Dick Advocaat's side in their tracks and his late equaliser will gnaw at the mind of the Rangers manager over the long journey to Dagestan to face Anzhi Makhachkala.

As for Hearts, they had to go back three years to recall their last success over Rangers, when Advocaat was given a rude welcome to Scotland. Yet that day in August 1998 was illusory for both sides. Rangers shrugged off the disappointment to claim two successive titles, while Hearts have been pretenders rather than the contenders that their Scottish Cup success and league challenge of 1997-98 indicated.

However, Tynecastle recaptured the raucous optimism of those days when Kevin McKenna put them in front after only eight minutes. The Canadian international defender has been press-ganged into a striking role in recent weeks because of injuries but his ruthless finish belied that. Arthur Numan was short in trying to guide back a header to Stefan Klos. Andy Kirk cut it off at the edge of the box, the ball broke to McKenna and, though Tony Vidmar blocked his first effort, the second flew low past Klos from McKenna's left boot.

Yet, before Hearts could truly savour their advantage, Numan carved them apart seven minutes later with a searing run down the left. The Dutchman's cross was cleared only to Russell Latapy, whose right-foot shot from 16 yards clipped the post and beat Antti Niemi.

The raw competitiveness was underlined by a flare-up between Stéphane Mahé and Fernando Ricksen. Amid all this the enigmatic Tore Andre Flo did little to clear up the debate which surrounds his abilities as he found an increasing number of gaps behind the Hearts defence in the second half. From one chance set up by Andrei Kanchelskis, the Norwegian stabbed his shot wide of the target, another deft turn soon after left Thomas Flögel on the seat of his pants before Niemi pushed Flo's shot past the post.

Even when he inscribed his name on the scoresheet, after 58 minutes, there was element of fortune rather than design to Flo's end product. Latapy was at the core of the move, shuttling the ball out to Kanchelskis, taking the return and threading it into Flo's path for an angled shot which was heading past the far post until it clipped the heel of Steven Pressley.

Hearts summoned up a response but had to wait until the 81st minute until they found the net. Steve Fulton delivered a quick free-kick to Gary McSwegan and the substitute rolled a pass into the path of Simmons, who lashed a right-foot shot into the top corner from 20 yards to send Tynecastle into ecstacy.

Heart of Midlothian 2

McKenna 8, Simmons 81

Rangers 2

Latapy 15, Flo 58

Half-time: 1-1 Attendance: 14,014