May 14, (THEWILL) – Former Scottish Premier League champions Rangers finished their 2021/2022 Premiership Championship campaign with a 3-1 win over Scottish Cup final opponents Hearts, despite a much-changed starting lineup.
Ibrox boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst rested all of his key players ahead of a busy week that includes a Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville on Wednesday and a match against the Jambos at Hampden on Saturday. There were no less than 10 changes from the squad that beat Ross County on Wednesday.
Hearts manager Robbie Neilson, on the other hand, allocated playing time to everyone expected to play in the final, and the strategy appeared to backfire when top scorer Liam Boyce walked off in the first half with a groin injury.
Hearts took the lead through Peter Haring, but Cedric Itten and Alex Lowry scored before halftime to turn the game around, and debutant Cole McKinnon sealed the triumph late on.
Hearts made six changes to the team that lost 2-1 to Motherwell in midweek, with key players Craig Gordon, Michael Smith, Stephen Kingsley, Ellis Simms, Cammy Devlin, and Barrie McKay returning. Ross Stewart, Taylor Moore, Nathaniel Atkinson, Ben Woodburn, Josh Ginnelly, and Andy Halliday were dropped.
Craig Halkett and John Souttar were both picked as substitutes in an attempt to show their fitness for the final, and both came in in the second half.
Rangers had the first opportunity of the game after seven minutes, but Scott Arfield’s low half-volley from the edge of the box was straight at Gordon.
Hearts were dealt a blow in the 12th minute when Boyce limped off holding his groin and was replaced by Ginnelly.
In the 19th minute, Rangers defender James Sands had to slide in and make a crucial effort to prevent Simms from turning in a Ginnelly cross.
After being teed up by Simms just inside the box, Haring blasted in a low angled shot four minutes later to give the Jambos the lead.
Rangers, on the other hand, equalised in the 32nd minute. Itten rose to head in a header from the resulting corner, which was taken by Lowry, after Gordon had pushed a shot behind. After some superb agility to create space for himself, Lowry placed a low finish past Gordon from 12 yards out to put the visitors ahead in first-half stoppage time.
Around the hour mark, McKay came close to equalising with a couple of tries from the edge of the box, but the Hearts playmaker blazed a close-range effort high over.
Rangers’ lead was extended in the 81st minute when McKinnon, a 19-year-old substitute, hammered into the bottom corner from 15 yards to wrap up proceedings.
Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey were not selected to feature and Balogun only played for the first hour before being substituted for English defender Jack Simpson. They three Nigerians have the chance of making a mark this season for Rangers in their Europa League final tie against Frankfurt on May 18 with an 8 pm kickoff.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
