Rangers go top again, Hearts back to fourth

Wins for Rangers and Hearts today saw them leap frog back into 1st and 4th respectively.

Rangers were first up with a trip to St. Mirren Park for a 12 noon kick off. As often happens the early kick seemed to affect both teams as the first half was a poor affair. St. Mirren could be pleased with their efforts in that spell having pushed Rangers all the way.

At half time Walter Smith removed the ineffective Weiss and replaced him with the powerful presence of Lafferty. The move paid off almost right away with Rangers taking the lead after three minutes of the second period.

The Northern Ireland International headed on a Davis cross and McAusland directed it into the far top corner from eight yards out. Lafferty then created the second when his cross picked out Naismith to tap in from close range.

Another McAusland mistake secured Rangers' win when he attempted to control a back header from John Potter but was robbed by Miller, who steered his drive past the exposed Samson.

Saints did get the consolation goal their determination deserved after 75 minutes when a Travner cross struck Davis's hand and Higdon tucked away the penalty kick.

Higdon squandered a chance to give Rangers a more nervous finale when he skied his drive from 14 yards after fine set-up play by Travner.

Over in Edinburgh Hearts secured the bragging rights by seeing off a poor Hibs side at Easter Rd. Hearts took the lead in the 19^th minute thanks to an outstanding solo effort from David Templeton. He shrugged off some pathetic attempts at tackling before sliding the ball past and exposed Mark Brown.

Hibs rallied in the second half and put Hearts under some pressure without really challenging Kello in the Hearts goal. But Hearts sealed the win on 67 minutes when Stephen Elliot latched on to more poor defending to crash home from close range.

The game was marred in the closing stages with a sending off for Hibs skipper Derek Riordan for a wild tackle on Skacel. This sparked off ugly scenes in the East Stand when Hibs fans pelted Skacel with coins as he received treatment following the tackle.