A reprieve, then, of sorts.
A wobble in the middle and a performance that could not be described as entirely convincing but Philippe Clement will point to the fact that he got the job done at Tynecastle this afternoon.
Rangers rode their luck at points and had a series of Jack Butland first-half saves to thank for keeping Hearts at bay with the final scoreline not reflective of the 90 minutes.
Still, given the turbulence of this week at Rangers, Clement could ill afford to invite further scrutiny or pressure on his position. That he has emerged unscathed from this one on the back of last weekend’s humiliating exit to Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup will be seen as the be all and end all.
All the signs would point to the fact that he will get to the end of the season at Rangers at least. But he needed something this afternoon.
Jamie McCart kicked it off with an own-goal – hist first of the day – but there was significant interest when Michael Steinwender levelled. That Rangers responded through Vaclav Cerny before McCart, under pressure from Cyriel Dessers, put the ball into his own net for a second time.
How it plays out between now and the end of the season will offer an assessment of just how robust this Rangers side.
Certainly, they started this one keen to get on the front foot immediately with John Souttar netting inside the opening minute.
A VAR check confirmed the ‘goal’ was offside but it seemed a portent of what was to come for Rangers as they sought to exorcise the demons of last weekend.
They got their lead, somewhat fortuitously, when Ian’s Hagi drilled a low ball across the face of Heart’s six-yard box. Craig Gordon made the move to come for it but succeeded only in touching it onto McCart who could do nothing as the ball came off of him and rolled into the net.
Rangers’ fragilities, though, were exposed despite taking the advantage.
Three times Butland had to repel Elton Kabungu as Hearts sought to level the game.
One of the saves came after he had invited the pressure himself.
Butland’s loose clearance comes landed had gifted Kabangu the ball only for the Rangers stopper to recover his composure and deny him with an outstretched hand to turn the ball wide.
More impressive, was the save to deny Lawrence Shankland. The striker’s volley looked destined for the top right-hand corner before Butland pushed the ball over the bar.
Hearts started the second period with the same impetus and within four minutes of the restart had their reward.
James Penrice’s corner was headed past Butland as Steinwender, on his first Hearts start, had an acre of space to turn his effort into the net.
Hearts went on the hunt for more. They had a shout for a penalty waved away when teenager James Wilson went down in the box. Seconds later Clinton Nsiala and Lawrence Shankland clashed too with the Scotland striker going down. While the Hearts support were still lamenting any action from referee John Beaton, Rangers went up the park and scored.
Tom Lawrence supplied Hamza Igamane and while his effort was blocked, Cerny was onto the rebound to finish. Hearts protested furiously that he was offside but television replays showed he was on.
With the wind taken from Hearts’ sails, there was another. Dessers came off the bench to outmuscle the unfortunate McCart who seemed to inadvertently dink the ball past Gordon.
Rangers might have have had another minutes later only for the offside flag to go up to deny Dessers.
Rangers didn’t need it at the point with Tynecastle hushed.
How long the noise around Clement remains mutes is a bigger question.
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