Attendance 17,040
Rangers travelled to Edinburgh fully aware that the possibility of participating in next season's Champions League, which they graced so impressively this season, might well hinge on the result, and Manager Alex McLeish made one change from last Saturday with Peter Lovenkrands replacing Kris Boyd.
A one-minute tribute to the late Jimmy Johnstone was immacutely observed on all sides of the ground.
The absurdity of reducing the allocation of tickets to Rangers' supporters for this game was illustrated by the huge gap in the Roseburn Stand necessitated by the need for a buffer zone between the two sets of fans to accomodate a meagre number of Jambo followers.
For the first time ever, Hearts' players did a huddle before kick-off – one wonders what their fans made of the move.
Hearts have been at their strongest this season in the early stages of games – and so it proved yet again today when, with three players in offside positions, they opened the scoring in nine minutes when Deividas Cesnauskis outpaced both Ian Murray and Dado Prso before finding Paul Hartley wide on the right, the midfielder's cutback being turned home by Edgaras Jankauskas.
Three minutes later Rudi Skacel's angled eighteen-yard drive following a Hartley corner was held by Ronald Waterreus.
Rangers had taken their time to find their feet, yet it took Craig Gordon to keep the home side ahead in 23 minutes when Peter Lovenkrands dispossessed Andy Webster following a Chris Burke cross only to see the Scotland goalkeeper turn his low drive wide.
The Champions were now starting to impose themselves – and three minutes later Alan Hutton saw his 25-yard drive flash just over.
The visitors had started with a front two of Thomas Buffel and Peter Lovenkrands up front with Dado Prso wide left in midfield – but by the interval the Belgian had swopped places with the Croatian as Alex McLeish sought to break down the Hearts' defence.
There was an undercurrent of ill-feeling at times, underlined when Burke and Skacel tussled as they left the field at the interval.
It took a superb one-handed save from Gordon to keep his side ahead in 54 minutes – turning wide a Buffel volley when the ball broke to him following a Lovenkrands free-kick.
Sixty seconds later Boyd replaced Lovenkrands as Rangers began to turn the screw.
The scores were levelled in 64 minutes when Prso's pass found Burke wide on the right – the winger's low cross to the far post being turned home by Buffel.
Rangers were now well on top – two minutes later Gordon again denied the Ibrox men with a one-handed save to deny Prso whose header from a Buffel cross was netbound, then immediately thereafter the Croatian saw his low drive from a Boyd lay-off held by the goalkeeper.
Hearts were far from out of it however – former Ranger Steven Pressley coming close in 68 minutes when his header from a Skacel corner was just over.
Rangers had a strong penalty claim waved aside by Referee Craig Thomson sixty seconds later when Prso was pushed from behind by Robbie Neilson as he homed in on an Ian Murray through-ball.
That proved to be Dado's last involvement, being replaced by Nacho Novo in 74 minutes.
Another Burke cross found Buffel six minutes later, but on this occasion the former Feyenoord player shot wide of the target.
Hearts had been forced back for most of the second-half, yet almost snatched the winner in 84 minutes when Neilson's thirty-yard drive struck the top of the crossbar and went over.
The game ended all-square, leaving Rangers still six points adrift of that vital second place - but with the Gorgie men still to come to Ibrox in the run-in.
Afterwards Alex McLeish reflected:
“I was disappointed not to win. We had Hearts on the back-foot for much of the second-half when we played much better and missed a couple of snips. Craig Gordon had some terrific saves. We can take a lot of positives from the game – a draw is not a disaster.”
HEARTS: Gordon; Neilson, Pressley, Webster, Fyssas; Cesnauskis, Brellier, Hartley, Skacel (Mikoliunas 85); Jankauskas, Bednar (Elliot 75)
UNUSED SUBS Banks, Berra, Goncalves, Aguiar, Petras
RANGERS: Waterreus; Hutton, Kyrgiakos, Rodriguez, Murray; Burke, Ferguson, Hemdani, Prso (Novo 74); Buffel, Lovenkrands (Boyd 55)
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Andrews, Ricksen, Namouchi, Smith
REFEREE: Craig Thomson