Hearts racked up their eighth Scottish Premier League win in a row for the first time in 91 years with a 1-0 victory over champions Rangers yesterday.

Roman Bednar glanced a header high into the middle of the net from close range following a 14th minute corner by Paul Hartley for what proved to be the winner.

Hearts top the standings after eight games with 24 points. Celtic are second on 19 after beating Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-1. Rangers are 11 points behind the leaders down in fifth place.

Hearts captain Steven Pressley said: "It's a fabulous achievement and beyond our supporters' wildest dreams. There's a great unity and spirit in the team."

Hearts survived a late penalty claim when Robbie Neilson appeared to handle inside the box.

Hearts manager George Burley said: "If we can get three players in of good quality that will improve the squad and then I think we could seriously talk about the league. But we are not there yet. There is a long way to go."

Rangers manager Alex McLeish said: "I think in the second half we pressed Hearts back and we had quite a lot of the play. But it was too little too late."

Celtic trailed 1-0 but bounced back with two goals from Craig Beattie.

Scottish Premier

Aberdeen-Livingston 0-0
Celtic-Inverness 2-1
Dunfermline-Dundee Utd 2-1

Hearts-Rangers 1-0
Kilmarnock-Falkirk 1-1
Motherwell-Hibernian 1-3

First Division

Airdrie-St Mirren 0-1
Brechin-Stranraer 2-3
Clyde-St Johnstone 0-1
Dundee-Ross County 0-0
Queen of South-Hamilton 1-2

Second Division

Alloa-Gretna 0-3
Ayr-Morton 0-1
Dumbarton-Stirling 2-0
Partick-Forfar 1-0
Peterhead-Raith 0-1

Third Division

Albion-Berwick 0-2
Arbroath-Cowdenbeath 0-3
East Fife-Queens Park 1-0
East Stirling-Elgin 0-2
Montrose-Stenhousemuir 0-3