Daly: We need to give more

Hearts moved nine points clear in the Scottish Championship after Steven Smith's 21st-minute red card for a reckless challenge on Callum Paterson ultimately handed the hosts the advantage despite a powerful start to the game from Rangers.

Jason Holt capitalised on a fortunate ricochet to sweep a first-time effort into the corner of the net from 20 yards in the 56th minute and Jamie Walker added a late penalty to inflict Rangers' third defeat of the season.

Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd put in challenges that were arguably as bad as Smith's as Rangers lost their discipline in a match that yielded nine yellow cards.

McCoist was subjected to abuse from the visiting fans after replacing Lewis Macleod with Boyd in the 80th minute, although they were soon drowned out by more positive chants, which were mockingly repeated by the home supporters.

McCoist declared firm belief he could lead Rangers to the title after the game and the club's continuing financial difficulties are likely to make it difficult for the board to sack him even if they wanted to.

And Daly believes the players owe their manager more.

The Irishman, who started in place of Boyd, said: "The players have to take responsibility, once we cross that white line there is nothing the manager can do. It's up to us to get results and we need to look closer at home.

"The manager can't do anything about the sending-off, it's something you have to adapt to. It's up to the players to make sure we win games for him and at the moment we are not doing that."

Rangers have little room for further slip-ups while chasing a Hearts team that have won all their home games and remain unbeaten in the league.

"It's going to be tough, no doubt about it," Daly said. "That's nine points and we only have two games against Hearts left, so it's out of our hands.

"It's obviously Hearts' to lose but we need to concentrate on ourselves. We have lost points we shouldn't have and we need to make sure that stops.

"But I think there's still plenty of twists and turns to come and we need to try and close that gap as soon as possible.

"Hopefully if we do that they will feel a bit of pressure and drop a few points."

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson remained as grounded as ever after the win, recognising that his side had struggled to get on the ball against 11 men.

"I thought the game hinged on the sending-off, because at that point Rangers had the upper hand," Neilson said.

"It was hard to match their physicality and they were playing with more intensity. Once they went down to 10 men, the game opened up and we had more areas to play in. We just had to bide our time until the chance came."

Neilson had his players in training first thing on Sunday morning and will continue to demand the same application that has put them in their lofty position.

"There's still a long way to go," he said. "It's only three points. Rangers are a good team and they made it difficult for us, and it would have been a different outcome if they had kept 11 men on the pitch. We understand that.

"We need to start games better. We're very up and down, sometimes we start well and sometimes we don't, and it's hard to change a game when you don't start well.

"Nobody inside the club is getting carried away. We know there will be a dip at some point this season, we need to be ready for it and be able to fight our way out of it.

"But the players have done everything asked of them, they have worked hard and done double sessions and triple sessions. They deserve the result and all the adulation they get for the hard work they put in."