Hearts and Rangers left with regrets after game of basketball and Derek McInnes baiting

A 2-2 share of the spoils is unlikely to suit either party, however, especially as leaders Celtic surprisingly dropped points at home to Dundee United. Rangers will perhaps be pleased to recover from losing their one-goal lead within 12 minutes of the restart by levelling matters on 89 minutes through Olwethu Makhanya. A draw in this basketball-esque encounter was probably about right.

Rangers nosed in front through Kevin Kelsy's 16th-minute opener, but the game threatened to run away from them after the break when Claudio Braga equalised on 48 minutes and then Calvin Miller had Tynecastle in fervour on 57 minutes. The weary hosts were unable to hold on and Makhanya's looping header means the Premiership title race remains unchanged: leaders Celtic are four points clear of second-placed Rangers, with Hearts a further four points behind in third.

Derek McInnes returned to Gorgie for the first time since swapping Hearts for Rangers last summer and he was afforded a hostile welcome from a once adoring faithful.

Tynecastle was up for this. McInnes was heavily booed as he took his place in the away dugout. Moments before, the home fans spotted injured pair Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin - who also made the move to Rangers from Hearts this summer - and jeered loudly. Last season's efforts had been consigned to the dustbin.

Hearts started fast and Tynecastle got right behind them. Rangers needed to weather the early storm. Nicolas Raskin was booked just four minutes in for halting a dangerous attack - a booking probably worth taking - and the hosts committed men forward, searching for an early goal.

McInnes will have been pleased with the way his team dealt with the atmosphere and hostility. They got a foothold into the match and then were given further leverage when Hearts helped them take the lead.

Midfielder Laurent Mendy was too ponderous in possession 30 yards out, allowing Ryan Naderi to steal the ball off him. The Czech and his strike partner Kelsy still had work to do, but they linked up well and showed composure as they drove towards Hearts keeper Beau Reus. The Venezuelan was slipped in and slotted the ball into the net on 16 minutes.

Hearts tried to respond but were limited in the final third. Braga shot straight at Rangers keeper Ivor Pandur and Malachi Fagan-Walcott sent a header over the bar from a Miller free-kick. Their cause wasn't helped when Rogers Mato, playing as an attack-minded left-back, went down clutching his calf. Another injury for Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken to contend with. He went into this game already shorn of eight first-teamers.

The Hearts boss was booked by referee Don Robertson for protesting over Rangers' propensity to stop attacks by any means. Emmanuel Fernandez was eventually cautioned for stopping a slaloming run from Josh McPake just before the break. Rangers deserved praise for navigating their way to half time with an advantage.

It only lasted three minutes into the second half.

Hearts won another free-kick in the final third of the pitch, Miller swung the ball in to the back post where Fagan-Walcott bravely dove in to head it back across goal for Braga to score from close range.

Hearts' belief swelled as Rangers' dwindled. The second goal for the hosts duly arrived on 57 minutes, this time through Miller. Braga's drilled shot hit off Fernandez and landed kindly at the feet of the hosts' No 7 and he gleefully converted from nine yards out.

Rangers were looking more ragged. They had lost their shape and were misplacing passes, with Raskin and Dan Neil not influential enough in midfield. Miller nearly got in behind but was thwarted by some excellent defending by Makhanya.

Visiting substitute Badredine Bouanani had the next effort, a curling shot that was acrobatically beaten away by Reus, and that sparked a five-minute period where Hearts had to defend their penalty box stoutly.

Hearts had a big chance to get a third on 76 minutes when Braga nipped past a dithering Fernandez and cut inside, but his shot lacked power and Pandur was able to save comfortably.

A swerving effort from Neil on 79 minutes almost caught out Reus. The final stages promised to be frantic.

Hearts have played a lot of football recently and tired. Bouanani was becoming instrumental and his delivery from a free-kick on 89 minutes was met by Makhanya and time stood still as the ball arced in via the post.

Rangers, now unbeaten in ten games, so nearly pinched a winner in the final play when Dujon Sterling failed to convert Tuur Rommens' cross. It would have been a cruel denouement for Hearts, who have now not lost at Tynecastle for 551 days.