Rangers vs Hearts; Scottish Premiership
Rangers vs Hearts. Scottish Premiership.
Ibrox StadiumAttendance50,697.
Rangers 0-2 Hearts: Russell Martin under more pressure as Gers fail to win in Scottish Premiership again
Report as Rangers lose 2-0 to Hearts at Ibrox; Lawrence Shankland scored either side of Derek Cornelius' disallowed goal; Russell Martin remains without a Premiership win; the Jambos remain unbeaten in the league
Sunday 14 September 2025 10:07, UK
The pressure is mounting on Russell Martin as Rangers fans chanted for his sacking after Lawrence Shankland's double earned Hearts a 2-0 victory.
Martin is the first Ibrox boss for 47 years to fail to win any of his first five league matches as Rangers drop nine points behind the high-flying Jambos.
Shankland's 21st-minute strike gave Hearts a deserved half-time lead and, after Derek Cornelius' disallowed equaliser and some second-half pressure, the visiting striker's late second wrapped up another dismal day for the Gers support.
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Hearts' first win at Ibrox since August 2014 came a day after Martin vowed they had pressed the reset button and would start winning games.
Derek McInnes' side top the table and are three points clear of Celtic who play Kilmarnock on Sunday live on Sky Sports.
Furious Rangers fans tell Martin his time is up
Martin was not a popular appointment in the summer and his rating with the Gers support plummeted further after four successive draws in the league and being bundled out of the Champions League qualifiers by Club Brugge on a 9-1 aggregate.
The international break had allowed the under-fire former Southampton boss to further bolster his squad.
Canada defender Derek Cornelius, on loan from Marseille, and Youssef Chermiti, the 21-year-old Portuguese attacker who signed from Everton for a reported fee of £8m, started on the bench for Rangers, unchanged from a goalless draw against Celtic before the international break, when they failed to get a shot on goal.
Midfielder Nicolas Raskin was left out of the squad again due to an ongoing dispute with Martin.
Hearts' Derek McInnes dropped goalkeeper Zander Clark to the bench, with former Union Berlin 33-year-old Alexander Schwolow handed a debut while defender Stephen Kingsley and winger Alexandros Kyziridis replaced injured Frankie Kent and Blair Spittal respectively.
In the fourth minute Tynecastle defender Craig Halkett headed just over Butland's crossbar and then the Gers keeper saved a drive from Shankland before Raskin chants first rang round the stadium.
Shankland found more joy when Claudio Braga slipped in a delightful pass inside the box and he drove across Butland and into the far corner of the net.
Rangers fans exploded in frustration and Martin was told where to go in no uncertain terms.
There was no surprise that Martin made changes for the start of the second half with Cornelius on for Nasser Djiga and Oliver Antman replacing Mikey Moore; soon Joe Rothwell took over from Connor Barron.
There was some improvement.
Antman's shot drew a save from Schwolow and then Gassama curled the ball from inside the box against the post.
Cornelius headed a corner over the bar, more evidence that Rangers were in the ascendancy, as Chermiti came on for Jayden Meghoma in another reshuffle.
Cornelius had the ball in the Hearts net following a melee inside the six-yard box from a corner but referee Steven McLean called a foul on Schwolow and VAR concurred.
However, after Gers midfielder Mohamed Diomande pulled down Harry Milne inside the Rangers box, referee McLean pointed to the spot and Shankland's penalty was saved by Butland but he was first to the loose ball and slotted in.
Rangers fans departed in their droves - there was time for Hearts substitute Tomas Magnusson to hit the post - and it is difficult to see how Martin can, in the long-term, survive the toxicity that has enveloped the Ibrox club during his short tenure.
Martin vows to 'keep fighting'
Rangers head coach Russell Martin speaking to Sky Sports News:
"I think as a group of players and staff we're just not happy with the level of performance we put in and so much of that is down to managing the emotion, expectation of this place and we haven't quite managed that yet.
"We have some really talented players in the building now, so the players we see in training to match are very different at the moment, so the gap between that is too big. It's up to us to find a way to simplify that and to make sure we try and get the same energy, intensity, running that we do on the training pitch.
"That's been probably the biggest source of frustration at the moment, but it just takes work, it takes trust with the players, they're trying so hard, so I love them for that and the rest we just have to keep working on.
"I don't think I've ever walked away from anything in my life. I knew coming here wouldn't be easy. The majority didn't want me here in the first place, which is fine, so then you have to try and change that around with results.
"At the minute all they see is the 90 minutes at the end of the week, so I understand the frustration, I'm as frustrated as anyone at the moment but we'll be here and we'll work until I'm told not to. It really is that simple.
"You have to fight in this industry to survive, you have to fight to get here in the first place, and we'll keep fighting until we're told not to."
