Shankland’s double in Glasgow turns up the heat on Rangers
Ibrox doesn’t get stunned often, but it was quiet enough on Saturday to hear the away end roar. Hearts walked out with a 2-0 win on September 13, 2025, and Lawrence Shankland walked out with the match ball. His goals on 21 and 82 minutes weren’t just clean finishes; they were the latest markers of an Edinburgh side that looks comfortable in the sharp end of the Scottish Premiership.
The wider picture is even more telling. Hearts are unbeaten in eight league games, seven of those wins with a single draw in the run. They’ve hit two or more goals in each of their last four outings and sit second with 13 points from five matches. That’s the form of a side that believes it belongs in the title conversation, not just the top-six split.
Rangers look stuck in first gear. After five league fixtures, they’re ninth with four points, still waiting for a first win of the campaign. The record reads four draws and a loss, but the bigger problem is the mood: anxious in the stands, hesitant on the pitch, and increasingly unforgiving around the manager’s dugout.
Set against the long sweep of this fixture, the swing is stark. Yes, Rangers have historically held the upper hand with 44 wins from the previous 68 meetings, but history doesn’t block shots or convert chances. Right now, momentum is with Hearts, and they’re playing like it.
The numbers behind Hearts’ surge and Rangers’ slide
Hearts’ current run isn’t a streak built on luck or late scrambles. It’s repeatable, with visible patterns: quick, direct phases when the space opens; calm shape when it doesn’t; and a knack for making promising moments count. They’re averaging 2.4 goals per match across this hot stretch, and they’ve kept two clean sheets in the process. Defensively, their average concessions sit at 1.2 per game—solid enough when your attack is this ruthless.
Shankland’s brace at Ibrox summed up the difference. Hearts needed their finisher to be clinical, and he was. Rangers needed their attack to be decisive, and it wasn’t. That’s not just a one-match story either. Through five league games, Rangers are averaging 0.6 goals per match, a number that explains a lot of the frustration. When you’re not scoring, every small mistake at the back feels fatal.
Rangers have only one clean sheet to lean on, and even that hasn’t reset the narrative. Conceding an average of a goal a game doesn’t sound disastrous, but paired with an attack that’s misfiring, it becomes a constant drag. The result is a side that looks tense, plays safe, and rarely wrestles control when games go flat.
Hearts, by contrast, look settled. They manage tricky away phases, they pick their moments to commit numbers, and when chances appear they don’t fluff their lines. Scoring two or more in four straight matches isn’t an accident—it’s a reflection of coherent buildup, confident forwards, and midfielders arriving in useful pockets instead of hovering on the edges.
Context matters, too. The eight-game unbeaten run stretches across league fixtures before and after the summer, which suggests this isn’t a brief spike. It’s an identity taking hold: a side that expects to win, home or away, and isn’t spooked by the occasion. Ibrox is still one of Scotland’s hardest away grounds. Hearts didn’t just survive it; they controlled the moments that defined it.
Pressure on Rangers boss Russell Martin will grow by the day. The home crowd made their feelings pretty clear after the final whistle, and while sporting director Kevin Thelwell has insisted he’s “certain” Martin can ride this out, certainty won’t protect anyone from the league table. When the mood turns, every team selection, every substitution, every post-match explanation gets picked apart.
What needs fixing? The obvious piece is chance creation. At 0.6 goals a game, Rangers aren’t giving themselves any margin for error. There’s not enough movement between the lines, not enough speed in the first pass after a turnover, and not enough conviction in the final third. Without those, possession becomes static and opponents grow comfortable. On the other side, the margins are small: one lapse a match is currently one too many.
Hearts’ strengths are simpler to list. They’re getting goals from their focal point, they’re composed without the ball, and they don’t panic when asked to sit in. Just as important, they’re banking points early—13 from five is the sort of start that allows a squad to weather dips later on. That changes pressure into ambition. Instead of hoping to stay near the top, they can plan to attack it.
There’s also the psychological turn this result creates. A clean two-goal win away to a club with Rangers’ pedigree tells the rest of the league something: Hearts aren’t waiting for permission to compete. For Rangers, it tells opponents something else: stay compact, grow into the game, and the crowd will do half the job for you.
- Scoreline: Rangers 0-2 Hearts (Shankland 21, 82)
- Form trend: Hearts unbeaten in eight league matches (seven wins, one draw)
- Scoring edge: Hearts at 2.4 goals per game during this run; Rangers at 0.6 this season
- Defensive snapshots: Hearts two clean sheets in recent form; Rangers one clean sheet, conceding roughly a goal a game
- Table snapshot: Hearts second on 13 points from five; Rangers ninth on four, winless in five
The head-to-head ledger still favours Rangers in the long run, but this is a sport of short cycles and sharp turns. Form—much more than history—decides who sets the tempo on a Saturday. Right now, Hearts are the side imposing themselves, and Rangers are the side adjusting to them.
So what changes next? For Rangers, the first priority is obvious: get that first league win, any way it comes. It doesn’t need to be pretty. It needs to release the pressure valve and reintroduce a bit of rhythm in the final third. A scruffy 1-0 can be worth more than three points; it can reset a season’s mood. Then comes clarity: a settled front line, more runners from midfield, and a more aggressive press to force turnovers higher up.
For Hearts, the goal is to keep the focus tight. A strong start can be undermined by thinking too far ahead. Bank the next result, stick with the defensive discipline that’s underpinned this run, and keep the finishing ruthless. The margins at the top will tighten as winter bites, but the habit of winning travels well.
Football never waits long to test a story. Hearts now carry the label of contenders and the expectation that comes with it. Rangers carry the weight of a club that demands immediate course correction. The next few weeks won’t decide the season, but they’ll decide the tone of it—who rides momentum, who wrestles with it, and who learns to live with the noise.
