Gerrard insists Rangers going top of the league 'means nothing'

Steven Gerrard on Sunday night insisted taking Rangers to the top of the league for the first time in his reign means 'nothing' to him.

He saw his 10-man team come back from one-nil down to hold on for a 2-1 win at Tynecastle on Sunday, capitalising on Celtic's involvement in the Betfred Cup final to go a point clear at the summit - having played one game more than the champions.

But Gerrard, who insisted the Ibrox side are 'not a dirty team' despite Scott Arfield becoming their seventh player to be sent off this season, played down his side's achievement.

'It means nothing to me - and I'm not lying,' he said. 'It's fantastic for the fans as it's been too long. They can enjoy tonight but we have another big game in 72 hours (against Aberdeen at Ibrox) and that's my focus.

'I said before the game it would be nice to be top, but I won't think about that.

'All I will think about is what knocks we have, who is available for Wednesday and what am I going to do without Scott. I go straight to work for that game.

'I am not interested in the league (position). You get nothing for it now. We have worked hard to get there, but it's a challenge for us to see how long we can stay there.

'People have games in hand and will breathe down our neck, but it's a different responsibility. The players know that and we have to handle that.

'There's no point getting carried away, because we're in early December and you get nothing for it right now.

'It was a very important result. It's our first big win against a rival away from home and we'll take confidence and belief from this result.'

Gerrard punched the air with delight at the end but said that was more to do with winning the game after playing with ten men for 20 minutes after Arfield was red carded for sliding in on grounded Hearts keeper Zdenek Zlamal.

'The emotion at the end comes from finishing the game with ten men again,' said Gerrard. 'The job becomes more difficult when that happens so we're pleased to get over the line.

'Scott is late and he knows he is. I have no complaints, but he isn't a dirty player and we aren't a dirty team - even though we keep getting red cards.

'Scott sees the keeper has it in one hand and goes for it - and by the time he gets there he has it in two hands, so he is late.

'You get your punishment, but he has been outstanding for us and he doesn't have a violent bone in his body.'

On coping without a full complement for the second time in as many games, after Daniel Candeias was sent off against Villarreal, Gerrard said: 'We're getting used to playing with ten men and we're quite good at it.

'Not that I want to do it in the future but we've had enough rehearsals with that. It was no surprise we dug in.

'Credit to Hearts, they never went away and Craig Levein's teams fight to the end.

'I'm sure they saw it as a fantastic chance when we went down to ten, but a lot of teams have had that - and we stood up well.

'First 20, we never played like a team who wanted to go top of the league, we were waiting for the game. We forgot to win second balls and earn the right to play at places like this.

'When they scored we woke up and saw the real Rangers after that.'