Rangers held to goalless draw at Hibernian

By Kenny MacDonald

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Rangers were held to a goalless draw at Hibernian on Sunday and could only cut Celtic's lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League table to seven points.

Second-placed Rangers, who have three games in hand, are on 76 points, while Celtic have 83. Champions Celtic have only two matches left to play.

Rangers manager Walter Smith, who on Thursday guided his team to the UEFA Cup final, refused to blame tiredness for the performance.

"A little bit of spark was missing from our play," he told BBC radio. "And I don't think it is physical tiredness because we finished the stronger team.

"They have worked very hard this year to put up a better challenge to Celtic ... maybe mentally we have to lift ourselves a little bit."

The dull encounter only flickered into life in the second half when Rangers almost scored on a couple of occasions.

Daniel Cousin nodded the ball into the net from a metre out following a header across goal by Spaniard Carlos Cuellar in the 54th minute but he was ruled offside.

Three minutes later, skipper Barry Ferguson burst into the box on the left and cracked a near-post five-metre shot that keeper Andy McNeil did well to turn away for a corner.

Cuellar, who was named Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year on Sunday, came close in the final minute with a six-metre header that looped over McNeil only to sail narrowly over the top.