McLeish pays tribute as resilient Rangers go top

Rangers 3 Hearts 2

A 3-2 Ibrox win, which featured two goals from in-form striker Nacho Novo, was enough to leapfrog Celtic, who had been held 2-2 at Dundee earlier in the day.

The game was the latest in a high-profile sequence for McLeish's men, who had previously beaten Celtic twice in 10 days.

McLeish said: "I couldn't have asked any more from my players. They were walking on empty a wee bit today considering the month that they have had and the intensity of the games we have played and I detected a little bit of tiredness yesterday. We had a couple of call-offs, which further disrupted us, but their resilience was magnificent."

McLeish's men were seven points behind Celtic a month ago but are now one ahead with the halfway mark looming.

But the Rangers manager insisted: "It has been a great month - a great couple of months - and the players deserve credit and the staff deserve credit. We have all rallied round together, but the league is not won in November.

Hearts had taken the lead through Paul Hartley's penalty but a Jamie McAllister own goal enabled Rangers to equalise just before the break.

Novo made it 2-1 only for Mark de Vries to level before substitute Stephen Hughes set up the Spaniard for the winner.

McLeish said: "We started well but for the next 10 minutes Hearts came into it and we never quite seemed to be there.

"In the head-to-head battles we always seemed to be second best but the players deserve all the credit - we weren't at our best but, despite that, we won."

RANGERS: Klos, Khizanishvili, Boumsong, Andrews, Ross, Namouchi, Alex Rae, Ricksen, Lovenkrands, Prso, Novo.

HEARTS: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley (Berra 45), Webster, McAllister, Wyness (Weir 59), Hartley, Kisnorbo, Hamill, de Vries, Pereira.

Referee: D McDonald (Scotland).