Hearts-Rangers handshake incident explained amid injury update and free-kick gripe

Hearts appeared set to take all three points against one of their Premiership title rivals after goals from Claudio Braga and Calvin Miller cancelled out Kevin Kelsy’s opener for Rangers. However, the visitors levelled on 89 minutes via Olwethu Makhanya.

Hearts remain in third place and eight points off leaders Celtic - who also drew 2-2 against Dundee United - and suffered another injury amid a taxing schedule when Rogers Mato went off injured. Nevertheless, they rallied and so nearly grabbed what would have been a priceless victory.

“I think when you concede a goal so late, you're always disappointed because I think we deserved the three points today,” said Vrancken. “You're always disappointed, especially because you want to reward the players for what they've already done during this run of games and given the situation we're in, as you all already know. It would have been a great win, but it was still a massive performance today.

“I can't tell you how proud I am of their performance, their team spirit and their fighting spirit. You're playing against a really good side who want to win the title, who spent a lot of millions during the summer and who aren't playing in Europe, so they have fewer games. They also had an extra day of recovery going into this match.

“When you consider their individual qualities and everything else, and then look at this performance from our players, including the difficulties we've had out of possession and the situation we've been in, which we've already talked about many times, I'm really proud of what they did today.

“It's nice to see that they [the players] are frustrated. They're not so much frustrated as disappointed because they also felt that they had lost two points here. We had to win it. We had to take the victory.

“Especially when you consider how the game unfolded, going a goal behind because of a mistake, then producing a really good first half and maintaining that level afterwards. We stayed together and fought for the win. The team spirit was amazing.

“It's nice to see that, despite the situation we're in, the players can be disappointed. You could see that disappointment in the dressing room because they felt they'd lost two points, rather than being happy with a point against a team like that.

“As a coach, I'm really happy to see it.”

Vrancken had to change his team on the half-hour mark when Mato, playing as a makeshift left-back, came off with a calf issue. The head coach hopes the injury was caught in time.

“I don't know yet,” Vrancken said on Mato’s condition. “He says he thinks he was coming off at the right time, so hopefully it's not too bad. But, as we've already said here, until you know the results of the examinations or scans, it's difficult to say.”

Vrancken also admitted that he would have preferred a warmer post-match handshake with his Rangers counterpart Derek McInnes afterwards - but explained there was no hostility between them.

“I think when you fight for your team, everybody fights for their own team and works hard for their own team,” said Vrancken. “I have the biggest respect for him, for what he does at Rangers and what he did here, as I already said before the game.

“When you draw, lose or win, I think you have to have a genuine handshake. But we spoke at the end, and it's all fine.”

Vrancken did, however, have a gripe with the free-kick that led to Rangers’ equaliser after Malachi Fagan-Walcott was pinged for a foul on Findlay Curtis.

“Yes, I was disappointed,” added the Hearts boss. “I thought it was soft.”