'Pure theatre puts Hearts on cusp of title fairytale'

BBC Scotland chief sports writer Tom English sums up the chaos and cacophony of Hearts' win over Rangers at Tynecastle. By Tom English BBC Scotland's chief sports writer at Tynecastle For the longest time after the final whistle, Tynecastle sang and Tynecastle danced. Hearts won not one but two victories in the sun on Monday night - they beat Rangers and in doing so they, effectively, took them out of the title race. Three horses have become two, but Hearts are out in front and show no sign of idling. If you were a Hearts supporter wouldn't you want to bottle this feeling and drink from it in more difficult times, wouldn't you want to savour every last second?

A banner went up behind the goal that Lawrence Shankland scored into to win the game - "keep believing" it read. With a telescope you could not find a Hearts fan who does not believe now. Trailing at the break, Hearts needed something. Watching him was a reminder, not that it was needed, of the paucity of Hearts' performance in the opening half. Hearts wanted a result here like they wanted their next breath but they weren't calm and they had no control.

That, for much of the opening half, belonged to Rangers. The visitors needed a win even more than Hearts - anything less and their title bid was dead or dying. They had six times the number of shots on goal, double the number of touches in Hearts' box than Hearts had in theirs, better accuracy, more possession and more forward passes. There is a flakiness in Rangers - they went 2-0 down in three of their previous seven league games coming into this one - but they looked more cohesive than Hearts. Rangers were bobbing and weaving and finding their range.

Hearts were swinging and missing. One - Hearts are never beaten until the last whistle. Two - Rangers can't be trusted to finish what they started. Rohl and Rangers sank like a stone in the water. The noise - lasting and deafening - rose up and swirled around like a typhoon, gathering up everybody in its vicinity, delirious Hearts folk thrilled to be sucked into the vortex.

Kingsley started it and, boy, did Shankland finish it, sweeping a first-time left-foot shot low past Butland. Shankland is a colossus around here. Thelo Aasgaard hitting the Hearts crossbar with a dozen minutes left to play was another reminder of the turbulence of these games. BBC Scotland chief sports writer Tom English sums up the chaos and cacophony of Hearts' win over Rangers at Tynecastle. 'Pure theatre puts Hearts on cusp of title fairytale'