Hearts manager Jim Jefferies was ovejoyed at a crucial win over Rangers

Hearts manager Jim Jefferies hailed victory over Rangers as "a good result for Scottish football" as his side remain firmly in the title running.

"We've taken another three points to make it difficult for teams to catch us in third place," he said.

"If it puts us nearer to the Old Firm that we can put in a challenge, we'll take it.

"I think it's a good result for Scottish football and a great result for the team."

The Tynecastle outfit weathered a 20-minute onslaught from Rangers from the start of the match, but settled into a compelling encounter which Ryan Stevenson won for Hearts with a 77th-minute strike.

"I thought they blew us away in the opening 20 minutes and if it hadn't been for goalkeeper Marian Kello we'd have been a couple down," said Jefferies.

We can go to Celtic and try to win there now Hearts manager Jim Jefferies

"When we got a grip of the game we gave possession away far too easily trying too many difficult balls and David Templeton was trying one or two things in bad areas.

"I think the opening 20 minutes was as good as I've seen Rangers play this season and I've seen them a lot.

"I said to our players at half-time that they probably couldn't play any better than that and it's 0-0.

"After 10 minutes we went to a tighter four in the middle of the park and took Templeton off to give us something more to hit up front.

"I thought we defended better in the second half and they had one shot which came off the bar that we got a break for.

"Our goal took a brilliant bit of play up the left-hand side from Lee Wallace, a great ball in and it fell nicely for us. Ryan Stevenson showed great composure to stick it away."

Jefferies refused to talk about his team as title contenders, but is relishing Wednesday's trip to Celtic Park to take on the other half of the Old Firm.

"If somebody asked me if I would take a draw against Rangers at home and then Celtic then you would want to win, but people would probably say it's two decent results," he said.

"We've won one, so we can go now to Celtic Park and try to win there. If we do then we're on our way to putting in a challenge."

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