Hearts might’ve been powerless to resist as a rampant Rangers laid on a 5-0 thrashing at Ibrox, but it didn’t stop their side having a dig when they could.
Call it frustration, call it tactics, but whatever the case there were times throughout the match where Hearts left something on their Rangers counterparts because they couldn’t lay a glove on them in a footballing sense.
On a bitterly cold day at Ibrox, it seemed to be the only defence the Jambos had as Rangers scolded them whilst barely getting out of second gear.
Uche Ikpeazu was lucky to be on the pitch after a frustrated lunge on a Rangers defender in the first half, a yellow deemed appropriate for the physical forward.
It summed up Hearts desperate, aggressive approach and its something that was picked up on from the stands.
The Ibrox faithful was on its feet five times as the ball hit the back of the net, but they were also up plenty of times in defiance of Hearts’ perceived over-physicality.
Some Rangers fans then took to Twitter to express their frustration over the approach after the match.
https://twitter.com/a_williamite/status/1201193899223650305
https://twitter.com/Mark_Morrison10/status/1201182121668304899
https://twitter.com/RangersRiver/status/1201182769684107266
The Rangers side deserve credit for not reacting to the challenges from the Hearts side to enforce their game and come away with a resounding victory.
But do our players need more protection from referees when teams employ dirty tactics like Hearts did today?
