Rangers down 10-man Hearts

Rangers ran out 2-0 winners against ten-men Hearts at Ibrox in the Scottish Premier league on Saturday thanks to a last minute penalty.

Rangers had taken a first-half lead through Kyle Lafferty's strike.

But it took until the last minute for Rangers to increase their lead through Kris Boyd's penalty despite having an extra man advantage following Saulius Mikoliunas' ordering off after lasting just five minutes on the park as a second-half substitute.

Both teams had plenty of possession in the first half but failed to create many clear cut chances, with Hearts failing to register a single shot on target.

New signing Pedro Mendes started for Rangers after his three million pound transfer and it didn't take the former Portsmouth player long to make a meaningful contribution.

The midfielder expertly pulled a high ball down and played a perfectly weighted pass to Lee McCulloch in the fifth minute but his shot was easily saved by Hearts keeper Jamie McDonald.

Rangers had their first effort on goal in the 11th minute when former Hearts player Andrius Velicka played in Kris Boyd but his chip was straight to McDonald.

Hearts were struggling to get past the Rangers defence and frustrations spilled over in the 17th minute when Larry Kingston was booked for a late challenge on Kevin Thomson.

The Rangers midfielder picked up a yellow card himself in the 21st minute for dissent after referee Stuart Dougal ordered a quickly taken free-kick to be brought back.

Rangers eventually made the breakthrough in the 38th minute with Kyle Lafferty scoring his first goal for the club. The Northern Ireland striker stroked the ball home into the bottom left-hand corner of the net from the edge of the penalty box after great work by Madjid Bougherra.

The Algerian centre-half beat a Hearts defender on the right wing before cutting into the box and finding Laffertry, who curled the ball past McDonald. It only took two minutes of the second half for Hearts to finally test Rangers keeper Allan McGregor.

Andrew Driver skipped past Kirk Broadfoot before unleashing a powerful shot which McGregor could only push out to Andrius Ksanavicius but the Lithuanian's strike was straight at the keeper.

Rangers came close to increasing their lead in the 64th minute. Pedro Mendes' cross from the right looked to be heading in but keeper McDonald got the faintest of touches to it.

DaMarcus Beasley came on for the injured Lafferty and his impact was instant. The nippy American winger skipped past Hearts defenders before rounding McDonald but his pass agonisingly rolled across the goal-line.

Another substitute, Hearts midfielder Saulius Mikoliunas, lasted just five minutes on the pitch after being sent off in the 73rd minute.

The Lithuanian had been booked for diving shortly after coming on before sliding into Kenny Miller with his studs showing for his second yellow card, his third sending off in matches against Rangers.

Hearts felt they had a penalty claim in the 87th minute when a shot appeared to hit Bougherra on the arm but the referee waved away the Hearts players' protests.

Rangers finally increased their lead in the last minute through a Kris Boyd penalty after Kenny Miller was fouled in the box.

There were goals galore at Easter Road with Hibernian narrowly defeating Falkirk 3-2. Hibs stiker Colin Nish scored a double as did Falkirk counterpart Michael Higdon with the decisive strike coming from Paul Hanlon.

Aberdeen picked up their first points of the season in a 1-0 win against Motherwell at Fir Park with a late goal from Charlie Mulgrew.

St Mirren and Kilmarnock shared the points in a goalless draw at Love Street.

Hamilton picked up their second win of the season with a 1-0 win away to Inverness CT. Hamilton took the lead on the stroke of half-time with a goal from Richard Offiong.