Rangers won three hard-fought points at Tynecastle with a 1-0 win over Hearts.
The home side came closet in the early skirmishes through Alex Cochrane after Nathaniel Atkinson slalomed through tackles and cut the ball back. The Aussie made good contact with the ball, but James Tavernier was able to block with his body.
After 30 minutes, Ibrox captain Tavernier drove forward from defence and slipped in Abdallah Sima to finish.
Rangers squandered excellent chances with Ridvan Yilmaz and Danilo profligate while Jack Butland also saved brilliantly from a curling Kenneth Vargas drive.
There wasn't too much quality on display but it was two sides giving wholehearted performances and both managers will go away with positives and negatives from the evening.
Here are the key talking points from the match.
Beale's signings continue poor form
Michael Beale may no longer be at Rangers but the decision making in his short tenure still has a profound effect. £13m was splashed in the summer, a fortune by Premiership standards, on Cyriel Dessers, Danilo, Sam Lammers and Jose Cifuentes. None of these signings has made the impact expected with Danilo guilty of missing gilt-edged chances in both halves and Ecuadorian Cifuentes was quiet after replacing the injured Tom Lawrence. Much more is expected from multi-million pound signings than they are giving at this point and short lived spells in Glasgow are certain without major improvement.
One man that doesn't come in that bracket is Sima. The forward may be a touch raw but his desire to score goals is always evident, as is an icy clam when a chance presents itself. There's a keenness to keep him in Glasgow for the long term but you'd have to imagine it will take big bucks on the basis of what we've seen since the summer.
Tavernier stands tall
The Rangers captain is still the one man that Philippe Clement can readily rely on to stand tall when it counts. He made an outstanding block on the line from Alex Cochrane 's first half shot when Hearts looked odds-on to score then went up the pitch and set up Abdallah Sima for his 12th goal of the season. It was a piercing run from deep before a wonderfully weighted pass that left the Senegalese forward with a straightforward finish. The 31-year-old remains the team's most reliable creative outlet despite all the money lavished on strikers and wingers. While that's testament to Rangers' poor recruitment over the years, the Englishman has shown remarkable consistency since arriving in 2015 for just £250,000.
Gordon's return can't come soon enough
Zander Clark surely won't keep his place in the Hearts team for too much longer as Craig Gordon continues to step up his recovery from a nasty leg break. The former St Johnstone keeper is a decent enough shot-stopper but he's not in the same league as his veteran competitor. He didn't cover himself in glory with Sima's goal, allowing a tame shot to go straight through him while he was extremely fortunate not to concede when dropping the ball in front of Danilo. Despite their keeper's flaws, it's easy to see why the Jambos won the previous four games in a row. They have a nice combination of steel and skill that will surely see them continue to improve as the season continues, especially with a top class keeper still to come back into the team.
