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All six matches of the eighth round of the Scottish Premier League were played on Saturday. The championship leader, Edinburgh Hearts, continues its unstoppable march forward, defeating the defending champions Glasgow Rangers at home and increasing their lead to 11 points.
As usual this season, Lithuanian striker E.Jankauskas started for the team, while D.Cesnauskis remained on the bench, and S.Mikoliunas, not in the best shape, was once again not registered for the "Lithuanian" club matches.
The guests had the first opportunity to score, but O.Bernard failed to hit the ball with his head after a pass from D.Prso. Shortly after, Hearts responded with an attack of their own, and after receiving a pass from R.Skacel, E.Jankauskas headed towards goal, but his shot was saved by goalkeeper R.Waterreus, and the defender managed to send the ball out of play.
Next came a corner kick, after which the hosts broke through - P.Hartley lifted the ball into the penalty area, and there R.Bednar, having outmaneuvered M.Andrews, headed precisely into the corner of the goal. Later, the same R.Bednar failed to capitalize on another opportunity and suffered an injury, prompting a substitution, while D.Prso's shot was saved by Hearts goalkeeper C.Gordon.
In the second half, neither team created many scoring opportunities, and it was only towards the end of the match that Rangers launched an attack on the Edinburgh team's goal. During stoppage time, F.Jeffers' shot hit defender R.Neilson's hand, but the referee, perhaps remembering a very doubtful penalty awarded in the last minute against Hearts last year, did not dare to punish the hosts.
Hearts held on and secured their eighth consecutive victory in the league, equaling the record set by the club in the 1914-15 season. However, they failed to achieve another record - R.Skacel, who had scored in every seven matches so far, did not find the net this time, ending his streak.
After this important victory, Hearts now have an 11-point lead over Rangers in the league standings, but they are only ahead of another Glasgow team, Celtic, by just 5 points, as Celtic rebounded after a missed goal against Inverness and won 2-1.
Edinburgh Hibernian moved up to third place, easily defeating Motherwell on the road and surpassing Kilmarnock, who failed to win at home against Falkirk and played to a draw. In other matches, bottom team Livingston held Aberdeen to a goalless draw, while Dunfermline won against Dundee United, celebrating their first win of the season.
