Scottish League: Aribo’s goal seals Rangers victory over Hearts

Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers extended manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s winning league start after a blistering first-half attacking display earned victory at Hearts.

Alfredo Morelos slotted an early opener before Joe Aribo slammed in a quickfire second within four devastating minutes.

The hosts – who had Josh Ginnelly dismissed late on – had plenty of chances, but could not make them count.

The result stretches Rangers’ lead to seven points, while Hearts stay third.

Celtic, who have played a game fewer, can narrow the gap back to four when they welcome Motherwell later on Sunday.

“We knew it was going to be a really difficult game,” Van Bronckhorst told Rangers TV post-match. “We had to be on top of our game from the first minute and we were. We damaged them in a couple of transition moments.

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“The more we train, the more we talk with each other, the better we become. We still have a lot of things to work on but we have time, so I’m really happy with the past weeks.”

The defeat is the first Robbie Neilson’s side have suffered at Tynecastle this season. On another day, their unbeaten home run may still be intact, but the Hearts boss will rue a lack of ruthless finishing from his players and an inspired Allan McGregor in the Rangers goal.

Rangers had failed to win on their last three visits to Tynecastle, heightening the challenge for Van Bronckhorst’s men, which the Dutchman was keen to highlight before the match.

And his side were almost chasing the game early in a frantic start after a simple ball forward caught the away defence out, resulting in Liam Boyce forcing McGregor to acrobatically tip a lobbed attempt over.

Rangers’ backline looked ropey, but the same could not be said for their electric attack.

The Hearts defence simply could not deal with the scintillating visiting frontline, who broke the deadlock when Fashion Sakala breezed by Cammy Devlin and cut back to Morelos to sweep home low in the ninth minute.

Sakala should have doubled the lead seconds later, drilling an effort on the volley from the right of the box narrowly past the far post, but Aribo made no mistake as the champions notched a second goal four minutes later.

Connor Goldson picked out the midfielder on the run with a stunning long-range pass, which was plucked out of the sky by Aribo and smashed low across Scotland keeper Craig Gordon.

Neilson’s side were still throwing punches, though, as Boyce and Ginnelly both had strikes whistle past either post. A fine pass from Devlin then sent Boyce in behind and he forced McGregor into another smart stop.

The home side continued to press after the break. Gary Mackay-Steven made McGregor tip over after a well-worked corner and a Ginnelly cross clipped Calvin Bassey before striking the bar.

Rangers sacrificed a lot of the ball in the second half, but could have put the game beyond reach when Scott Arfield, Sakala and Morelos all had shots thwarted by Gordon, with the latter’s effort falling back to Arfield who dragged an attempt wide.

But failure to take at least one of those four chances left the door open for Hearts as Mackay-Steven cut back to Boyce – via a deflection off Goldson’s hand – who skied over from close range.

Free-kick specialist Stephen Kingsley then saw a stunning set-piece attempt crash off the bar, but the home side lost their discipline soon after.

Ginnelly, booked earlier, got involved in a needless confrontation with Borna Barisic and saw a second yellow for his troubles.

But even with 10 men, Hearts still threatened as substitute Ben Woodburn forced McGregor to save down to his left.

Boyce attempted to blast home the rebound but was again denied by the Rangers keeper, who sprung up instantly to make another superb save. It ensured his side travelled back to Glasgow with a fourth clean sheet in si