Both James Sands and Malik Tillman came off the bench to help Rangers to a shutout victory over Hearts in Scottish Premiership action.
Hearts 0-4 Rangers
Rangers was on top of their game as they cruised to a comfortable win over Hearts at Tynecastle Park to remain two points out of first place.
James Sands played the entire second half, completing 94 percent of his passes and winning two duels, while Malik Tillman came on to play 27 minutes, completing 80 percent of his passes and winning three duels.
The visitors jumped out to take the lead after six minutes when Ryan Kent’ cross from the left side was headed in by Antonio Colak. The Croatian forward would then double their lead on the half-hour mark when Rabbi Matonodo played the ball to him to slot past Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
Rangers completely had the momentum and it just got better for them in the 39th minute when the referee showed a red card to Cameron Devlin for his rash challenge on Matondo as the Australian stomped on his ankle.
The Light Blues continued to push for more goals, but they had to wait well into the second half to find their third when Alfredo Morelos struck past Gordon in the 76th minute following a past from James Tavernier.
Kent would complete Rangers’ goal glut in the first minute of stoppage time when Tillman fed him the ball to unleash a shot just inside the 12-yard box.
Rangers now have 19 points to leave them in second place in the standings.
Notes
In other Scottish Premiership action, Ian Harkes played 68 minutes for Dundee United as they remain rooted to the bottom of the standings following their 2-1 loss to St. Johnstone.
Christian Ramirez played the final 10 minutes while Dante Polvara remained on the bench for Aberdeen in their 4-1 win over Kilmarnock.
Cameron Carter-Vickers continues to recover from his injury but Celtic was able to come away with a 2-1 win over Motherwell.
In the Scottish Championship, it was a rough outing for Brian Schwake as he had to pick the ball out his goal several times in Greenock Morton’s 5-1 loss to Partick Thistle.
Down in League One, Emmanuel Johnson watched on from the bench as FC Edinburgh sealed a 2-1 win over Montrose.