The Light Blues lined up with a youthful starting lineup owing to the involvement of several players in Philippe Clement’s first-team squad in Prague. Seven 2006-born players featured from the off, while 16-year-old Chris Eadie (2007) spearheaded the attacking line.
Indeed, there was a 24-year age gap between Eadie and the man he was looking to score past between the Hearts posts, Craig Gordon, as the Scotland international marked his return from a lengthy injury lay-off.
Hearts opened the scoring midway through the first half when Callum Sandilands finished into the bottom corner, before a Mackenzie Kirk penalty and late Macaulay Tait strike in the second period condemned the Gers to defeat despite Bailey Rice’s late spot-kick.
Rangers were direct straight from the outset as they looked to carve their way through the Hearts rearguard. A promising move which originated from the backline found Zander Hutton on the right-hand side who immediately slid the ball through to Eadie looking to stretch the opposing backline, although the move was pulled back when Paul Nsio drifted offside as the Englishman looked to receive the resulting through pass.
Nsio was next to go close for the Light Blues as he met a Bailey Rice corner at the far post, heading over Gordon’s crossbar as he looked to trouble the Jambos goalkeeper.
Hearts, however, began to build a head of steam in the contest as they went narrowly close to breaking the deadlock on 17 minutes. Callum Sandilands slipped a neat through ball into Mackenzie Kirk whose stabbed finish trickled wide of Mason Munn’s post.
The young Gers stopper then produced a terrific stop to deny Aidan Denholm from close-range as the Hearts midfielder’s header looked destined to sail into the top corner before Munn’s intervention.
The away side opened the scoring moments later as Sandilands rifled a finish into the far corner when he collected a clearance on the edge of the penalty area.
Control in the first half was slowly wrestled back for the Light Blues and they were close to levelling proceedings when Rice’s dipping free-kick required Gordon to be alert and tip the ball round for a corner.
A sweeping move down the right troubled the Jambos defence when Hutton fed a clever pass inside to Stevens. The England Under-18 international drove menacingly into the danger area but his pull-back was cleared to safety before it reached a Rangers jersey.
Rangers continued to attack into the space beyond the Hearts backline as the second half got underway, with Stevens adjudged to have started his run too early as he looked to latch onto a searching pass in-behind.
The Jambos threatened briefly when Luke Rathie stole a march at the near post and stabbed an effort wide from a whipped delivery.
The visitors would soon stretch their lead in the contest from 12 yards when the referee pointed to the penalty spot after Denholm went to ground under the attentions of Connor Allan. Kirk assumed penalty duties in the Hearts ranks and dispatched a penalty which went in off the post to double Liam Fox’s side’s advantage.
Opportunity knocked for the young Gers as the game entered its final 25 minutes when Stevens rounded Gordon but could only contrive to steer the ball into the side netting from the narrowest of angles.
Leyton Grant’s delivery from the right-hand side was almost met flush on the head by substitute Josh Gentles, but the 16-year-old was unfortunately caught under the ball and could not steer his effort towards the Hearts goal.
However, for all of Rangers’ pressure as they went in search of goal, the away side put the seal on their victory when Macaulay Tait broke through the Gers ranks and finished powerfully beyond Munn.
The Light Blues restored a glimmer of hope with three minutes remaining as Gentles did tremendously to break into the penalty box and draw contact from Kenzi Nair, with Rice stepping up to plant the resulting spot-kick into the top corner.
It was too little, too late, however, for the Gers as they will now look ahead to next week’s Glasgow Cup opener against Queen’s Park.
RANGERS B: Munn, Allan, Grant, Yfeko (Webster, 45), Hutton (Newton, 75), Rice, McInally (Pasnik, 75), Stevens, Trialist, Nsio (Curtis, 87), Eadie (Gentles, 57)
SUBS: Thackray, Bell
HEARTS B: Gordon, Tait, McLuckie, Sandilands (Duncan, 45), Kirk, Thomas (Gordon, 80), Nair, Drysdale, Forrester, Rathie, Denholm
SUBS: McConnell, Dall, Smutek, Ross, Chisholm, Crookston