With Celtic beating Aberdeen at Pittodrie 24 hours earlier a win was all that mattered for Walter Smith’s men with the Jambos able to overtake their Glasgow rivals had they won this evening.
As it was the Light Blues recorded a morale boosting result prior to Sunday’s Scottish Cup, fifth round tie against Neil Lennon’s men and it was a night to remember for El Hadji Diouf who made an impressive debut for his new club.
On the night, however, it was Kyle Lafferty that was the matchwinner and his goal will go down as one of the best of his Ibrox career.
Smith made three changes to his starting line-up with Allan McGregor, Vladimir Weiss and Jamie Ness back in.
They replaced Neil Alexander, Steven Naismith and the injured Nikica Jelavic, all of whom played in the club’s League Cup semi-final victory over Motherwell at Hampden on Sunday.
New signings David Healy, Kyle Bartley and Diouf were on the bench for kick-off.
Smith used a 4-2-3-1 formation for this massive league fixture with a back four of Steven Whittaker, Davie Weir, the outstanding Madjid Bougherra and Sasa Papac protecting McGregor’s goal.
In front of them Ness and Lee McCulloch were utilised as holding midfielders with Steven Davis, Mo Edu and Weiss playing in advanced roles to support the industrious Lafferty.
Hearts gaffer Jim Jefferies suffered a pre-match blow with David Obua picking up an injury and in his place came Algerian stopper Ismael Bouzid.
Conditons were poor as referee Brian Winter got the match underway but the Light Blues soon lit up the stadium with a terrific goal after just four minutes.
Lafferty played a delightful pass out wide to Steven Whittaker on the right wing and the Ulsterman immediately darted in to the Hearts 18-yard box.
Whittaker looked up and floated an accurate return cross to his teammate who volleyed a stunning shot past the helpless Marian Kello.
The Czech shotstopper was outstanding in two previous meetings between the sides at Tynecastle this season but there was nothing he could do to deny Lafferty who looked in the mood with Healy, Naismith and Diouf all ready for action on the bench.
After the goal the visitor’s regrouped and the next goalscoring opportunity arrived when Bougherra crossed from the right but McCulloch could not get enough purchase on the ball and his effort went wide of target.
On 20 minutes it was Smith that had to change his tactics when McCulloch indicated to the bench that that he could not continue.
This gave new boy Diouf the chance to get on the pitch and he received a warm welcome from the Ibrox faithful.
The Senegalese star started the game on the right side of midfield with Davis moving inside and his early touches were confident and assured.
On 26 minutes, however, Rangers were given a fright when Hearts created their first chance of the match.
Craig Thomson curled a free-kick in to the box and McGregor had to be sharp to make a stunning stop from a powerful Zaliukas header that looked to be dipping under the cross bar.
Thomson’s deliveries were proving a threat and on the half hour mark a superb cross from the right-sided winger flew across the Gers six yard box.
After a positive start it was Hearts that were now looking the more likely to score but they were unable to find a killer pass.
And at the other end the visitors were starting to lose their discipline with the half time whistle approaching.
After an entertaining first half Jefferies made his first change to his side with Black, who had been booked in the opening period, replaced by Ryan Stevenson, who scored his side’s winner against Rangers on January 22 at Tynecastle.
Smith’s men, however, immediately went in search of a second goal with Diouf putting in plenty of graft.
But the next goalscoring opportunity fell to Bougherra after a stunning passage of play.
The centre-half played a disguised one-two with Davis who chipped the ball over the Hearts backline and in to the path of his teammate.
Boughie blasted a shot towards Kello’s near post from a tight angle and the Czech palmed the ball to safety.
It was a moment of inspiration from the Algerian and the Ibrox faithful got out of their seats to applaud his superb pace and athleticism.
The Hearts players responded with several strong tackles and on 58 minutes Weiss was left clutching his ankle after another poor challenge from substitute Stevenson.
The Slovakian, who again showed flashes of his skill, returned to the pitch and with half an hour left to play and at this stage Jefferies was in his technical area demanding one last push from his troops.
But Rangers were always a threat and when Diouf found Edu at the back post with an intelligent cross the American’s net bound effort was deflected out of play.
With the clocking ticking down the home support started to voice their frustration as their side struggled to double their advantage.
And with 19 minutes left Andrew Driver replaced Santana for the visitors while Steven Naismith went on for Weiss as the home side looked to secure three valuable points.
In the closing minutes the Gers stars showed their experience by retaining possession well while the Hearts players started to lose their cool by adding a sixth yellow card to their unwanted tally.
Steven Davis had the ball in the net in injury time after a terrific counter attack but the Main Stand linesman had already raised his flag to deny the brilliant playmaker.
In the end Smith will feel his side can play better than they did tonight but it was always going to be a tricky test and moving to within five points of Celtic, with two games in hand, at the top of the SPL summit was the primary objective.