{"id":299853,"date":"2026-02-15T20:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T20:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/299853\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T20:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T20:25:07","slug":"youssef-chermiti-hat-trick-powers-rangers-to-victory-over-leaders-hearts-scottish-premiership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/299853\/","title":{"rendered":"Youssef Chermiti hat-trick powers Rangers to victory over leaders Hearts | Scottish Premiership"},"content":{"rendered":"

This proved the game of Scotland\u2019s top-flight season. The seriousness given to it by Rangers<\/a>, plus their scale of full-time celebration, said much about the progress of their opposition. Hearts\u2019 lead at the summit has been cut to two after the Edinburgh side lost out by two goals. As the scoreline suggests, this was pulsating stuff.<\/p>\n

Youssef Chermiti was once ridiculed in these parts. His \u00a38m arrival for Everton was used as a stick with which to beat Kevin Thelwell, the now departed sporting director. Chermiti\u2019s hat-trick against Hearts<\/a>, added to a recent double at Celtic Park, means he at least has a useful knack of standing up on the big occasion. Rangers\u2019 next task is simple; to build on recent progress and overhaul Hearts.<\/p>\n

Derek McInnes and his Hearts team will be sore about this outcome. They twice took the lead in the first half, only to produce defensive error to offer Rangers hope. The hosts were the better side after the interval, with Hearts failing to create adequate and meaningful opportunity.<\/p>\n

Hearts\u2019 lead at the top the Scottish Premiership is down to two points after defeat against their closest chasers, Rangers. Photograph: Russell Cheyne\/Reuters<\/p>\n

There was the whiff of farce attached to the Hearts opener. Emmanuel Fernandez tried to find Nicolas Raskin, with the Rangers midfielder facing in the opposite direction. Marc Leonard stole possession for Hearts, played a one-two with Cl\u00e1udio Braga and slammed beyond Jack Butland. Rangers soon hit back. Mikey Moore\u2019s shot rebounded from the Hearts crossbar, with Michael Steinwender\u2019s panic ensuring the Austrian sliced the ball into his own net.<\/p>\n

Steinwender was to atone for his generosity with a fine cross for Braga, who beat John Souttar to head home Hearts\u2019 second. Rangers were level by half-time after Craig Halkett\u2019s block of Chermiti\u2019s shot only allowed the striker to hammer a rebound in at the near post of Alexander Schwolow.<\/p>\n

Chermiti\u2019s free header at the near post, Andreas Skov Olsen the creator, edged Rangers in front. Hearts huffed and puffed in reply. Chermiti\u2019s final act may well be one in respect of this title race; Rangers counterattacked through Djeidi Gassama before the Portuguese finished. Ibrox roared, as never before this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This proved the game of Scotland\u2019s top-flight season. The seriousness given to it by Rangers, plus their scale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-299853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}