Watch Glasgow Rangers vs Hearts live stream online

Watch Rangers vs Hearts live

Glasgow Rangers vs. Hearts 22 Jan 2011

Rangers v Hearts online

Glasgow Rangers vs Hearts live

Watch Glasgow Rangers vs Hearts live stream

Watch Glasgow Rangers vs Hearts 22-1-2011

Glasgow Rangers vs Hearts Live Streaming Scottish Premier League

Rangers v Hearts Live

Rangers vs Hearts live match live stream

Scottish Premier League

At Tynecastle, today, 12.45pm

Hearts v Rangers: Hearts braced for Old Firm double-header

Ranger smanager Walter Smith puts his players through their paces at Murray Park yesterday ahead of today's trip to Tynecastle. Hearts also face Celtic next Wednesday

FOR all their apparent rivalry, the Old Firm can act at times like a mutual benevolence society. Or at least, that is how they are likely to seem to Hearts, who are at home to Rangers today then visit Celtic in midweek.

Even if they get the better of one, they will have practically no time to recover before the other is at their throats. They could be forgiven for feeling like a wrestler in a tag match whose partner has failed to turn up.

A ten-game unbeaten run in the SPL has taken Jim Jefferies' team to within a handful of points of the two Glasgow clubs. So far, the Hearts manager has preferred to emphasise the lead that run has given his team over fourth-placed Kilmarnock, and played down their title ambitions.

That caution is understandable. Not only does Jefferies want to prevent his players from indulging in dreams of glory, his experience makes him all too aware of how difficult it is for one challenger to go it alone against the duopoly.

Hearts succeeded in splitting the Old Firm five seasons ago, but in modern times no club has gone one better on its own. The last time the title left Glasgow - in fact, the last four times - it was partly because Celtic and Rangers had two challengers, not one. Aberdeen won three championships in the Eighties, Dundee United one, and although they were fierce rivals, there was an element there, too, of mutual assistance.

So can Hearts do it on their own? The Old Firm are certainly more vulnerable than they have been for several seasons, but retain the knack of picking up points when well below their best.

That is partly a result of their own ingrained self-belief and the high expectations they have of themselves. But it is also aided by the nagging self-doubt from which their domestic opponents invariably suffer: the belief, born of decades of defeat, that they cannot get the better of the Glasgow clubs over the course of the season.

So far Hearts have won one of their two meetings with Celtic, and lost their only match to date against Rangers. The Celtic victory, however, was in only the second match of their current run, and their resilience has grown considerably since then.

That much was evident in midweek, when, without Kevin Kyle and Rudi Skacel, they gave Kilmarnock a goal of a start and left Rugby Park 2-1 winners. It was an impressive performance overall, achieved thanks to two goals by half-time substitute Stephen Elliott, yet it was far from flawless. Kilmarnock had a chance to take a two-goal lead, and had later opportunities to score as well. Hearts goalkeeper Marian Kello arguably played as big a role as Elliott in claiming the three points for his team.