Rangers lost the plot at Tynecastle yesterday.

Whether they also lost the league here remains to be seen. Referee Craig Thomson was the busiest man in Gorgie, administering nine yellow cards and one red in a blood-and-thunder encounter with the kind of foul count usually witnessed over the road at Murrayfield. When the dust had settled, however, it was the young Hearts side which had generally held things together better, stretching their advantage at the top of the Championship table to nine points.

The visitors started the match brightly and both managers accepted afterwards that the outcome could have been different if Steven Smith hadn't earned himself a red card for the rash lunge after 21 minutes which caught Callum Paterson just above the ankle.

Regardless, Rangers lost this battle, and they also look to be losing the war. Whether this was also Ally McCoist's Waterloo remains to be seen.

For a while, when Kris Boyd was introduced for Lewis Macleod late on, a smattering of bodies in the reduced travelling support of 1300 chanted 'Ally, Ally, get to ****', but most just trooped out of the ground quietly. The cause isn't entirely hopeless yet - the Rangers boss has guided his team to a League Cup semi-final meeting with Celtic, and still has the plan B of the play-offs to fall back on - but with the influence of Mike Ashley in the boardroom increasing, it is hardly outlandish to suggest his future may be the subject of discussion in the next few days.

Hearts' win was achieved without Danny Wilson and Osman Sow, two of their most important players, both of whom failed fitness tests. McCoist's game plan, which initially functioned well, was to take the aerial route.

Jon Daly made his first league start of the season in place of Boyd up front, while Richard Foster was replaced by Bilel Mohsni. Perhaps most surprising yesterday was the fact the Tunisian, on his first outing since picking up a retrospective two-match ban after the defeat against Hibs, managed to avoid Mr Thomson's attention entirely.

It took only five seconds to realise that this was going to be a brutal, punishing encounter - Paterson and Lee Wallace both requiring treatment after the very first phase of play. But the match had settled into a pattern of sustained Rangers pressing when Smith's over-eagerness left his side short. He caught Paterson with a straight leg, studs-up, lunge and the referee had little option but to send him off.

Mohsni went close as Rangers' height advantage caused havoc at set-pieces, before Nicky Law and Alim Ozturk traded free-kicks which were beaten away by the respective goalkeepers, Neil Alexander and Steve Simonsen.

Hearts began to gain the ascendancy towards half-time, with Miguel Pallardo growing in prominence in midfield. Morgaro Gomis whipped a low drive narrowly wide and Brad McKay's header forced Simonsen to tip on to the bar, but the visitors' 10 men held firm.

That almost become nine as one of the older heads became caught up in the madness. Kenny Miller ran fully 20 yards to make a straight-leg tackle on Kevin McHattie that was only deemed worthy of a booking, but left the full-back requiring a scan on his left knee.

A goal finally arrived after an hour when Paterson's cross was deflected into the path of Jason Holt, who guided the sweetest of finishes beyond Simonsen.

The gloating of the Hearts fans was almost caught in their throats when Neil Alexander immediately saved from Nicky Law, then substitute Foster's rebound was deflected off the bar by Adam Eckersley.

However, Hearts got the killer second from the penalty spot when Ian Black needlessly bundled over Jamie Walker, somehow escaping a second booking for the incident before seeing his attempts to psyche out Walker fail when he rolled the ball into the middle of the net.

And there was still time for Boyd to become the latest player lucky to escape with just a booking when he took his frustrations out on Eckersley in the dying minutes.