Rangers 5-0 Hearts: Three things we learned

By Alexander Cruickshanks

Cortes grabbed his first Rangers goal (Image: Getty Images)

Rangers thrashed Hearts 5-0 with a season-best performance. This victory puts Rangers five points ahead of Celtic until they play Motherwell on Sunday. Let’s take a look at what stood out:

Rampant Rangers run riot

Dessers scored two of the five goals (Image: Getty Images)

It was a highly anticipated match between Rangers and Hearts. The two in-form sides in the league faced off in what turned out to be an extremely one-sided affair.

The scoring was opened inside two minutes when Mohammed Diomande scored for the second week in a row. A left-footed shot from outside the box went hard and low into the bottom right corner of Zander Clark’s goal. This early goal set the tone.

Hearts enjoyed a spell of possession, but it wasn’t long before Rangers struck again. Dujon Sterling won the ball high up the pitch and Tom Lawerence ran with it down the right and played it across the box for Oscar Cortes to stroke it into the corner. Then it was three. Cyriel Dessers moved off the last defender to finish a ball over the top from John Souttar.

He grabbed his second in the second half to make it four and Fabio Silva broke Hearts with the 5th. It was a brilliant display and a statement performance from the league leaders.

Rangers got January right

Diomande is just one of Rangers’ successful January signings (Image: Getty Images)

The January window had a lot of weight placed upon it by the Rangers support. It was essential to bring in some new players who could impact the side and help the title push.

And against Hearts, all three of Rangers’ January signings proved that Nils Koppen knows what he’s doing. Last week, Diomande scored a brilliant goal against St Johnstone and followed it up this week with a stunning finish against the Jambos.

Cortes grabbed his first Rangers goal and an assist after some promising performances and Fabio Silva scored his third Rangers goal.

Rangers got January right and that could be crucial in the fight for the title and these players could be the difference.

Not so glorious Hearts

Hearts’ unbeaten run came to a devastating end (Image: Getty Images)

Coming into this game, Steven Naismith’s side were the form team in the division. They had won 11 of their last 12, drawing once, in all competitions. With the best striker in the league, Lawerence Shankland leading the line, it looked like they could have given Rangers some real trouble.

However, it wasn’t to be as they were completely blown away. The only player that could be given pass marks was Clark despite conceding five. He kept it much lower than it could’ve been.

They were outrun and outplayed. And this put an end to Hearts’ incredible run.