The telling moment was not Stuart Findlay’s header to open the scoring. It was not Lawrence Shankland battering the ball beyond Jack Butland. Instead, the latest indicator that this is a Hearts team of proper substance arrived as they conceded a 95th-minute and ultimately immaterial goal to Youssef Chermiti.
Frankie Kent, who had misjudged a through ball, was enraged. The Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow soon threw his gloves on the turf in anger. Derek McInnes, the manager, later only half joked that neither player was as furious as he was. Even losing a clean sheet is a cause for concern at Tynecastle nowadays. A year ago, they were rumbling around in the lower echelons of the league.
Hearts’ fairytale continues at vertiginous pace. McInnes and his players were already guaranteed to sit top of the table at Christmas – a feat previously achieved by a non-Old Firm team in 1993 and Hearts themselves two years earlier – but decided to demonstrate their superiority over Rangers for good measure.
Rangers have a game in hand but the dozen-point gap between them and a Hearts team who have lost just once in 18 fixtures looks ominous for Danny Röhl. Rangers are not a particularly convincing operation either on or off the field.
“I expected us to win today,” said McInnes. This was no intended slight on the opposition. Instead, it was an example of the supreme confidence McInnes has in a group of players who are turning heads way beyond Scotland. The manager also, quite rightly, rails at the notion Hearts are only enjoying this potentially historic campaign because both Glasgow giants are fumbling around in the dark.
“I have such huge belief in this team,” said McInnes. “We have a good thing going here. I am not surprised by how we are doing.” Next up, a mouth-watering derby at Easter Road which will bring Hearts to the midway point in their Premiership season.
The pubs of Gorgie were already giddy places before Aberdeen’s Kenan Bilalovic equalised at Celtic Park. Late goals from Kieran Tierney and James Forrest means the Hearts’ lead over Celtic remains at six points. The defending champions hold a game in hand. Hearts, though, may be content that Wilfried Nancy’s first win as the Celtic manager presumably lowers the likelihood of him being removed from office quite yet. Only Celtic’s January spending power is keeping them as title favourites.
Hearts are a team with an indomitable spirit. There is no sense that they feel a weight of history when looking to become the first team outside of Celtic and Rangers to win the league for four decades. Hearts have not been champions since 1960. Make no mistake, the class of 2025 quietly believe they can go all the way. Doing so would give the Scottish game such an almighty boost.
Hearts’ recruitment has earned plaudits. McInnes is due praise, too, for his rejuvenation of those already in the building. Cammy Devlin was exceptional for Hearts once more in central midfield. Shankland, who endured a dismal season in 2024-25, led the home attack superbly. Kent had no cause to be hard on himself after repelling all before him for 94 minutes.
It should be recognised that Rangers actually started this fixture solidly enough. They were denied the opening goal due to Bojan Miovski’s offside position as he latched on to an Emmanuel Fernandez header. A strength of Hearts – one of many – is that they always look capable of steadying themselves from tricky positions.
And so it proved. Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga played a short corner which had Rangers scrambling. A pinpoint Kyziridis cross found the head of Findlay. Butland had no chance as the ball found the top corner of his net.
The former England goalkeeper was more culpable as Hearts doubled their lead just four first-half minutes later. Shankland’s confidence was such that he was willing to shoot from a seemingly improbable angle. Braga had fed his teammate with a knockdown. Butland should still have saved at his near post but instead looked shocked that Shankland had aimed for goal.
Late goals from Kieran Tierney and James Forrest gave the under-fire Wilfried Nancy his first win as Celtic manager in a 3-1 victory over 10-man Aberdeen at Celtic Park.
The Frenchman was under intense pressure after starting his tenure with four straight defeats. But the former Columbus Crew head coach caught a break at last when the midfielder Benjamin Nygren knocked the ball in from eight yards in the 39th minute of a game they should have won even more comfortably.
The Dons' 20-year-old defender Dylan Lobban was shown a straight red card just before the break for fouling the Celtic striker Daizen Maeda following a mistake by the visitors' goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov, whose fine performance otherwise prevented a thrashing.
In the 74th minute Dons substitute Kenan Bilalovic stunned Parkhead with an equaliser but in the 87th minute Tierney restored Celtic's lead from a few yards out before his fellow replacement Forrest added a third in stoppage time.
It was some welcome respite for Nancy as Celtic moved to within six points of the Premiership leaders, Hearts, and the Hoops have a game in hand on them. PA Media
Hearts had an advantage their game-management skills meant they were never likely to concede. All of 10 seconds remained when Chermiti delivered a rare moment of cheer in his hapless Rangers career to date.
Curiously, for a team who have seemed in a regular state of crisis, this was Rangers’ first league defeat away from home in 2025. “We missed a big opportunity today and that is hard to take,” said Röhl. The German will generally be spared blame. Rangers have no chief executive or sporting director. Umpteen of their players look far too meek to wear this particular jersey.
“I want us to be relevant,” added McInnes. “I want us to keep playing in important games.” He need have no worries on either front.
