Hearts scrap to win over nine-man Hibs as Rangers stumble again at Ibrox

After Celtic had moved level at the top in the three-way Scottish title race, they saw their rivals suffer mixed fortunes on Sunday

Sun, 26 Apr, 2026 - 19:15

Staff

Substitute Blair Spittal scored a late winner as Hearts eventually ground down nine-man Hibernian to take a big step towards the William Hill Premiership title with a 2-1 Edinburgh derby victory at Easter Road.

On a day of high drama in the race for the Scottish crown, the Jambos fell behind early on to a Martin Boyle goal. But Hibs soon had keeper Raphael Sallinger sent off, before Felix Passlack was also dismissed just three minutes into the second half.

Hearts made heavy weather of finding their way back into the game but eventually eked out victory as Lawrence Shankland’s flick led to an own goal by Warren O’Hora and Spittal grabbed the winner, with substitute Sabah Kerjota creating both goals.

Derek McInnes’ side are now three points clear of Celtic with a superior goal difference and four ahead of Rangers, who they host a week on Monday.

Meanwhile Danny Rohl insists Rangers will “keep believing” despite suffering a William Hill Premiership title blow with a 3-2 defeat by Motherwell at Ibrox.

First-half goals from Lukas Fadinger and Emmanuel Longelo as Well dominated ensured half-time changes by the Gers boss with Mikey Moore, skipper James Tavernier and Mohamed Diomande coming on in a reshuffle.

Rangers had fought back from two down in their previous game against Falkirk to win 6-3 and another dramatic comeback looked on when Youssef Chermiti reduced the deficit in the 51st minute and midfielder Nico Raskin got the last touch on the leveller.

However, in the final minute of normal time, Longelo’s drive came off the head of Ibrox defender Emmanuel Fernandez and ended up in the back of the net to leave Rangers in third place, one point behind Celtic and four behind leaders Hearts with four fixtures remaining.

Rohl said: “I’m disappointed, there’s no question over that. Let’s talk about the second 45 minutes where we had a lot of opportunities to turn it again.

“We could have won this game 4-2 or 5-2, even if the first half wasn’t what we wanted. We changed something and it had a great impact.

“Look, this is football – that’s why sometimes we love the sport and sometimes we hate it. But the most important thing is that it’s not over. It’s really not over. I saw the picture from our fans at Falkirk, the flag saying ‘Keep Believing’.

“This is the right time to lift this slogan with emotion. Really, we will keep believing. Otherwise, it’s difficult. We have four more finals, four games to go and it’s our job.”