Reports of Hearts' demise have, it seems, been greatly exaggerated, at least on the evidence of a pulsating ninety minutes at Tynecastle this afternoon. Much criticised by friend and foe alike this season, the Jambos turned in their best performance of the campaign so far as they swept aside Walter Smith's hitherto unbeaten league leaders in fine style.

2-0 up at the break through goals by Andrew Driver and Ibrahim Tall, the home side had to withstand a stern examination at the start of the second period, during which the visitors pulled a goal back courtesy of a Danel Cousin penalty. But Michael Stewart's penalty and a firm but fortunate effort from Kestutis Ivaskevicius settled any nerves the home side might have felt, and rendered Demarcus Beasley's late strike little more than a conslation for the men from Glasgow.

There were only two changes from the side that secured a first league win of the season at Motherwell, with Lee Wallace returning to replace Jose Goncalves on the left hand side of defence while the midfield was bolstered by the return of Andrew Driver in place of striker Calum Elliot. That left Hearts with what appeared to be a 4-4-1-1 formation, Laryea Kingston patrolling the right touchline, Driver the left, while Audrius Ksanavicius had been detailed to link with lone front man Christian Nade.

Rangers fielded a trio of players who had helped Scotland to such a memorable week, with Alan Hutton, David Weir and Kris Boyd all on the pitch, And they rested a fourth, skipper Barry Ferguson taking up a place on the visitors' bench alongside Jean-Claude Darcheville, Nacho Novo and Steven Naismith.

After an opening five or six minutes that was more measured than we might have expected in previous seasons, the match burst into life just before the ten minute mark, Nade picking up possession just outside the box and twisting his way past three tackles as he sought a way through. The ball was poked off his toe but only as far as Ksanavicius, whose right foot effort was superbly tipped away by the Scotland number 2 in the visitors' goal.

That was followed by more magic from Nade, again holding off the challenges of the Rangers defenders before feeding Kingston who failed to capitalise. The home side clearly sensed a chance, however, and they duly took it three minutes later.

Ksanavicius stepped forward from midfield with the ball before losing out to Cuellar at the edge of the area. The ball span loose to Driver wide on the left-hand edge of the area, and the young Englishman had time to steady himself before rifling an unstoppable rising shot beyond Allan McGregor in the visitors' goal. It was the sort of effort we grew accustomed to seeing from Rudi Skacel two seasons ago, and represented a welcome response from the youngster to those who have criticised his finishing in the early matches of this matches this season.

The visiting fans in the Roseburn Stand made themselves heard for the first time in the match as they tried to rouse their players from the torpor that seemed to envelope the team in blue. But apart from a couple of darting runs by Demarcus Beasley and Daniel Cousin, both halted by the linesman's flag, their response was muted and it was the home side who continued to look the more menacing.

And they doubled their advantage just before the half hour when Ibrahim Tall notched his first of the season with a deflected effort from the edge of the area. The initial danger had come from a Michael Stewart corner on the left, which McGregor punched away under severe pressure from Nade. Tall picked up the ball at the edge of the area and prodded it goalwards, his effort catching a defender and looping high over the keeper and into the back of the net.

The frustrations felt by the Rangers players were all of their own making, but that did not stop them trying to taking them out on players in maroon, and things briefly threatened to boil over ten minutes from half-time when Neilson and Beasley squared up to each other inside the Rangers area. Mr McCurry restored order with a booking for each player, those two joining Alan Hutton and Kevin Thomson in the referee's notebook, both of whom were booked for persistent first-half fouling.

Clearly unhappy at the level of performance of his side in the first-half, Walter Smith sent for the cavalry at the start of the second. Barry Ferguson and Jean-Claude Darcheville replaced Amdy Faye and Kris Boyd respectively, and you could sense the anticipation and see the determination in the visitors' faces as they lined up for the restart.

And they converted that good intent into devastating reality with a whirlwind start to the second-half that resulted in restored skipper Ferguson being hauled down by Neilson on the left-hand edge of the area. Daniel Cousin was the beneficiary as he placed the spot-kick low to the despairing Steve Banks's right. Game on.

Their tails back up, Darcheville now barrelled his way past the attentions of both Tall and Christophe Berra before ballooning an effort high over the crossbar from inside the area. A series of free kicks for the visitors followed, none of which caused too many problems for the Hearts defence, but still offered an indication of which side was on the front foot and which was planted firmly on the back.

The tireless Michael Stewart almost delivered some welcome relief from the increasing pressure when he found space on the left to receive a cute pass from Kestutis Ivaskevicius, who had replaced Driver moments before. The former Manchester United man delivered a neat low cutback for the inrushing Ksanavicius, but the Lithuanian could only scuff an effort wide of the target from fourteen yards.

Still, it showed what Hearts could do if given the chance to break from their own half, and indeed the next time they did so, they struck to devastating effect. Kingston picked up possession from Nade wide on the right and swung over a deep cross which was chased by both Ivaskevicius and Hutton on the left-hand side of the area. The Lithuanian reached it first before finding himself dumped unceremoniously to the turf by his marker; Stewart despatched the resultant penalty with the minimum of fuss.

Now it was the turn of the home supporters to make themselves heard, but if we thought the roar that greeted the conversion of the penalty, we were to be happily mistaken. Five minutes after that goal, Ivaskevicius again picked up possession wide on the left before cutting inside to unleash a low shot towards McGregor's goal. Although firmly struck, it should have been a relatively easy save for the Rangers keeper, but he somehow allowed the ball to squirm under his body before it trickled slowly into the net to give the home side a scarcely believable 4-1 lead.

Even with that cushion, the final twenty minutes were never going to be completely comfortable, and our unease was deepened further with fifteen minutes remaining as Demarcus Beasley cut in from the left to rifle home a carbon copy of Driver's opening goal.

However, even the introduction of that perennial thorn in Hearts' side, Nacho Novo, failed to invigorate the visitors for a final push. With Calum Elliot now on for Nade, the home side more than equalled their opponents for the remainder of the 90 minutes as they closed out another much-needed victory in convincing style.

Hearts: Banks; Neilson, Tall, Berra, Wallace; Kingston, Zaliukas (Palazuelos 72), Stewart, Driver (Ivaskevicius 49); Ksanavicius; Nade (Elliot 76). Booked: Neilson, Stewart, Ksanavicius Subs not used: Kurskis, Pospisil, Kancelskis, Karipidis.

Rangers: McGregor; Hutton, Cuellar, Weir, Papac; Whittaker, Faye (Ferguson 46), Thomson, Beasley; Boyd (Darcheville 46), Cousin (Novo 76). Booked: Hutton, Beasley, Thomson, Cuellar. Subs not used: Smith, Naismith, Lennon, Loy.

Referee: Michael McCurry

Top man: Audrius Ksanavicius