Rangers-Hearts reaction: Class act outshines Alfredo Morelos, curious Barrie McKay move backfires, Aaron Ramsey cameo

It had been 350 days since Ryan Jack last started a match for Rangers. In his 68 minutes on the pitch against Hearts, he showed just what they have been missing.

Ever since the Scotland international limped out of the action against Dundee United at Ibrox on February 21 last year, concern has grown over whether he will ever be able to regain optimum match fitness after his long battle to recover from a calf issue which required surgery.

Jack’s consummate display of midfield mastery as Rangers bounced back from their Old Firm defeat at Celtic Park to rout Hearts 5-0 at Ibrox on Sunday afternoon was the most compelling indicator yet that the 29-year-old can still exert the kind of influence on a match which makes him so valued by both club and country.

Alfredo Morelos was the headline-grabber for the champions, rightly so, as he gave them the attacking focal point they so badly lacked during his fruitless stint of international duty when he was not even named among the substitutes for Colombia’s World Cup qualifiers.

His country may not need him but Rangers can hardly do without him. That’s 15 goals for the season now for Morelos whose double eventually put Rangers in control of the contest before later goals from Glen Kamara, Scott Arfield and Fashion Sakala left Hearts reeling.

A return to menacing form for winger Ryan Kent, involved in three of the goals, was another major boost for Rangers but it was the assured and tactically astute contribution of Jack which underpinned the victory manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst so badly needed.

On a day when Hearts would have hoped to take advantage of any psychological fall-out among the Rangers squad after their Old Firm nightmare, they were found wanting at key moments.

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