Rangers bounce back from their Old Firm loss by demolishing Hearts

Heart of Midlothian suffered their worst defeat in nearly two years, losing 5-0 to Rangers this past weekend.

The mid-week Old Firm derby loss to Celtic FC did not have a long term impact on Rangers FC, with the Glaswegian team determined to regain their place atop the Scottish Premiership. They started that journey this weekend by demolishing Hearts.

Rangers FC versus Heart of Midlothian.

Rangers bounced back from their mid-week loss to Celtic by getting a 5-0 win against Hearts.
Two Olyroos were on the losing side, with near misses that could have equalized for the visitors.
Celtic lead Rangers by a single point in the Scottish Premiership.

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The mid-week Old Firm derby loss was a hard one for Rangers. Not only was the 3-0 defeat to Celtic their first in over two years, but it allowed their biggest rivals to skip over them in the Scottish Premiership and climb atop the ladder.

The mental burden of that loss did not fester though for Giovanni von Bronckhorst's side. Playing at home at Ibrox, Rangers hosted Hearts this past Sunday. The match-up had two Australians on the visitor's side, with Olyroos Cameron Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson starting.

The game would belong to Columbian Alfredo Morelos though. The Rangers striker opened the scoring account 11 minutes in, making it 1-0 for the hosts. He would nearly make it 2-0 later in the first-half, had it not been for the intervention of Hearts keeper Craig Gordon.

At the start of the second half, both Atkinson and Devlin nearly equalized for Hearts. Atkinson received a deep ball deep in the Gers' half, but his shot bounced across Ranger's goal. Devlin for his part would claim the ball inside the host's box off a faulty back pass. The Australian tried to chip goalkeeper Allan McGregor only to have his effort go wide.

It was Morelos who would be next with the scoring, making it 2-0 for Rangers minutes later. Passing the ball to himself by deflecting it off a Hearts defender, his shot was too much for the keeper to handle. He nearly followed this with a hat-trick, but this time was denied by Gordon.

It was in the final twenty minutes of play that the onslaught truly came. Goals from Glen Kamara, Scott Arfield and Fashion Sakala resulted in the biggest Jambos loss of the season, 5-0.

The loss will give Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson a lot to think about as his side heads back home. This Sunday's display certainly did not reflect that of a side third in the Scottish Premiership.

Giovanni von Bronkhorst will be happy his squad showed a quick and decisive response to their previous loss, and to first placed Celtic.

At this point in the Scottish Premiership season it is arguably a two-club race for the title. Hearts trail Rangers by 16 points after this weekend's defeat. Rangers have 59 points, just one point behind Ange Postecoglou's Celtic FC.

All three teams have mid-week matches this Wednesday. Celtic are away at Aberdeen. Rangers host Hibernian while Hearts host Dundee.