Olwethu Makhanya’s first ever Scottish Premiership goal rescued a point for Rangers after Hearts were just minutes away from going within one point of the Ibrox side in the league table.
Hearts came into this one off the back of a crucial 2-0 win away at Motherwell after back to back defeats in the league against Celtic and in the Europa Conference League away in Turkey against Trabzonspor, they also had an 11 game Tynecastle win streak in the league.
Rangers on the other hand came into this one unbeaten in their last nine games with eight wins and one draw after their latest win on Saturday as they defeated St Johnstone 4-0 at Ibrox.
Hearts made two changes from their game at Fir Park on Sunday as Stephen Kingsley and James Wilson were replaced by Calvin Miller and Laurent Mendy.
Whereas Rangers made just one change from the game against St Johnstone as Badredine Bouanani was replaced by Djedi Gassama.
Hearts started the brighter getting a corner in the first minute it was cleared then recycled to the taker Sabah Kerjota whose cross was inches away from the head of Claudio Braga but it bounced out for a goal kick.
However it was Rangers who took the lead just 16 minutes in when Ryan Naderi and Kevin Kelsy linked up at the edge of the box and the Venezuelan danced through Hearts area and slipped the ball under Beau Reus’ legs to put the Ibrox side 1-0 up.
Hearts came forward again after a long ball found Calvin Miller who knocked it into the path of Claudio Braga but his shot was an easy save for Ivor Pandur.
Hearts again came forward this time Calvin Miller took a shot from distance after good work from Rogers Mato but the shot was again straight at Pandur in the Rangers goal.
Just a minute later there was a Hearts free kick swung in by Miller and it was met by Laurent Mendy but it looped over the bar and out for a Rangers goal kick.
Rangers managed to get the ball up to the strikers as Kelsy laid off Naderi but his shot was weak and easy for Reus to make the stop.
Hearts received a free kick after James McPake was brought down by Emmanuel Fernandez, the kick was taken by Jordi Altena but it’s a fairly easy stop again for Pandur.
Half time came and Rangers had the one goal lead but Hearts had by far the most chances of the half, However Rangers had shown why they have the most clean sheets in the league coming into tonight.
Hearts got the first chance of the second half and scored from it as a free kick was whipped in by Miller, Malachi Fagan-Walcott knocked it back across goal and it was bundled over the line by Braga for his fifth Premiership goal of the season.
Hearts got their second just nine minutes later as Min-su Kim lost the ball and it was played out to Braga who took a poor shot but it deflected to Miller who slotted past Pandur to turn the game around.
Rangers were trying to get a foothold in the game as substitute Bouanani had a shot saved by Reus but they couldn’t capitalise on the rebound as Hearts cleared their lines.
Claudio Braga was able to turn really well away from Fernandez and skips past Makhanya but his shot was right at Pandur as the score stayed 2-1.
Dan Neil took a shot from distance it was straight at Reus who made a mess of the save but he managed to recover the ball before Kelsy could pounce on it.
Kerjota was then released down the Hearts right hand side, he then passed it inside to substitute JJ Williams who hit it first time but it bounced wide as we went into the last 10 minutes.
Williams again is looking to get a shot away, he is tackled but the ball falls to Tomas Magnusson who hits it but it’s well wide of the mark.
Rangers would equalise with just two minutes to go as a Bouanani free kick was headered across goal by Makhanya and the ball bounced off the inside of the post and into the net.
With almost the last touch of the game Dujon Sterling had a great chance to win the game from point blank range but Jamie McCart was in there and put the Rangers full back off and the ball bounced off his chest and into Reus’ hand who kicked it out and then the final whistle went.
Hearts 11 game win streak at Tynecastle came to an end but their unbeaten streak at their home was still alive which has now stretched to 26 games. Hearts next game is a Premier Sports Cup Edinburgh derby semi-final against Hibs at Hampden on Sunday.
Rangers unbeaten streak is stretched to 10 as they also next face a Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden as they play Aberdeen on Saturday evening.
Hearts
Beau Reus, Jordi Altena, Malachi Fagen-Walcott, Jamie McCart, Rogers Mato (Stephen Kingsley 33), Laurent Mendy, Tomas Magnusson, Sabah Kerjota, James McPake (Sabri Guendouz 90+1), Calvin Miller (James Wilson 78), Claudio Braga (JJ Williams 78).
Rangers
Ivor Pandur, Dujon Sterling, Emmanuel Fernandez, Olwethu Makhanya, James Penrice (Tuur Rommens 63), Nico Raskin, Dan Neil (Tochi Chukwuani 84), Min-su Kim (Findlay Curtis 84), Djedi Gassama (Badredine Bouanani 54), Ryan Naderi (Bojan Miovski 84), Kevin Kelsy.
