The Jambos had not lost in 10 games and were hoping for an upset, but they were dismantled by the ruthless visitors, who also had three goals disallowed for offside and a penalty award reversed due to video review.
Malik Tillman scored twice for Rangers, who are currently 10-1 since Beale took over and 13-0 overall. However, they are still nine points behind city rivals Celtic in the Premiership standings.
Hearts substituted Nathaniel Atkinson, Orestis Kiomourtzoglou, Cammy Devlin, Stephen Humphrys, and Yutaro Oda for James Hill, Robert Snodgrass, Barrie McKay, Josh Ginnelly, and Garang Kuol in their 0-0 draw with Livingston on Sunday.
Beale made two changes to the Rangers team that won the Saturday match against St. Johnstone. John Lundstram and Todd Cantwell came in for Ryan Jack and Todd Cantwell, respectively.
After only six minutes, the visitors have had a goal disallowed due to offside when Morelos punched in a cross from Sakala at the back post. The quick free kick freed the winger down the left, and two minutes later the Colombian striker broke the deadlock with a header in from a Ryan Kent cross.
Morelos sent a low angled shot across the face of goal in the 12th minute as Hearts struggled to gain a footing in the contest. In the 22nd minute, Lawrence Shankland and Kuol combined well to set up McKay for the home team’s first real chance of the game, but Allan McGregor made a diving save to his left.
Stephen Kingsley, who had previously given the ball away deep in Rangers territory, raced back to prevent a goal by blocking Sakala’s shot at the other end. In the 28th minute, Sakala scored after being set up by Kent in a beautiful counterattack, but the goal was disallowed due to offside following a VAR review.
Tillman increased Rangers’ advantage in the 35th minute after Connor Goldson headed Borna Barisic’s left-wing cross back into the danger area from a cross from Morelos, who had just been denied by Zander Clark’s great save.
Kent had a close-range shot deflected into the post as Rangers closed the first half on the front foot, and Lundstram forced another spectacular stop from Clark with a fierce 20-yard strike.
Hearts, who had been outplayed, made two halftime substitutes, sending on newcomers Alan Forrest and Kiomourtzoglou for recent additions Kuol and Hill. Three minutes into the second half, Kent went down trying to get by Alex Cochrane and the referee gave Rangers a penalty kick.
However, the judgment was overturned following a video review, and Kent was penalized for diving. In the 56th minute, VAR denied the visitors another goal when Sakala’s effort to score after racing onto a feed from Glen Kamara and beating Clark was overturned.
Morelos added a third with a tap-in at the back post off a Sakala pass in the 67th minute, and the goal was upheld following a second VAR review. Beale says, “I want to retain Tillman.”
Michael Beale, manager of the Rangers, told Sky Sports about Malik Tillman. “What I want should be obvious. That young man is playing superbly. Since I’ve joined the club, he’s appeared in every game.
“I’ve given him a lot of discipline by playing him in the middle of the field and limiting his opportunities to break out, but he’s given us a goal threat from the middle of the park. He’s a very interesting young player with a really high ceiling, and we want him to stay at Rangers for the foreseeable future.
“We’re all on the same page on his contract; now all that has to happen is for the appropriate parties above me and Bayern Munich to have the necessary conversations to activate the agreement.
“Even before I came in, he had scored some really vital goals for the club in Europe, in the summer, to qualify for the Champions League, and he has been terrific since I have been here. He is their player at the moment.
There are definitely flaws in his game that need to be addressed, but wow, is he ever fascinating for my team and I to work with every day!” According to Nielson, Hearts needs to get things going against Dundee United.
Robbie Nielson, head coach of Hearts
“Really, it was a letdown for us. I doubt that we made much of an appearance. The most discouraging aspect of the game is that, despite a few bright spots, our team simply didn’t perform well enough to merit any wins.
We’d been riding high on a perfect 10-game winning streak before tonight’s loss. We can try to make amends for that on Saturday when we play a game.
“The only thing we can do now is go to Dundee United on Saturday and try to get a win by getting back to what we do best as a team, which is positive passing forward, and doing extremely well at. Simply said, I don’t think we were able to reach that peak level today.”