A Lee McCulloch double secured the win, after Andrius Velicka had levelled for the Tynecastle side, allowing Rangers to close the gap on leaders Celtic to just two points in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Smith's men had shown signs of struggling to cope with the demands of both competitions earlier in the season and was thrilled there was no European hangover today.

The performance may not have been vintage but Smith insisted: "The win was more important. It was always going to be a difficult match for us, I don't think there was any doubt about that.

"We got a little bit of good fortune at the end to win the game which was the most important thing from our own point of view after our efforts in midweek.

"We've had that experience throughout the season - playing Champions League games and then having to play league games on the Saturday as well.

"The added disappointment is sometimes harder to overcome but I didn't think that was a major factor today. Today's game was one we were just pleased to get over with with a win."

McCulloch took advantage of poor defending to open the scoring with 17 minutes gone but Rangers failed to kill the game off and Velicka gave Hearts hope when he levelled the scoreline 10 minutes after the restart.

Just when it looked as though both teams would be sharing the spoils, McCulloch's mis-kicked effort was fumbled into his own net by goalkeeper Eduardas Kurskis late on.

"He has played well for us overall," said Smith of McCulloch. "He was a little bit frustrated that he hadn't had as many attempts at goal as he would have liked.

"He rectified that today and, by all accounts, he is claiming the second goal. When you are desperate to get a goal, you'll claim anything."

Smith also refused to be drawn on speculation that former Rangers and Celtic striker Kenny Miller could be set for a controversial return to Ibrox in January.

Asked about the rumours, he replied: "I think there are more rumours than that. If you believe the papers this morning, we won't have anyone left at the end of the transfer window so we better bring somebody in!

"I'm not going to comment on who will be coming or going. I said the other day that there would not be that many players leaving, maybe one or two either way. That's where we are coming from."

Meanwhile, Kurskis' blunder means the spotlight is firmly back on the goalkeeping situation at Hearts with Kurskis, Steve Banks and Anthony Basso having all been deployed between the sticks in the last six matches.

Also highlighted was the ongoing ambiguity with regards responsibility for team selection at the Edinburgh club.

"It would be unfair of me to sit and talk about the situation of the goalkeepers at the minute," said assistant coach Stephen Frail.

"Eduardas played today and it's going to be difficult to lift him up because it was a bad mistake.

"It's one of those that we have to sit down and make sure we have the best goalkeeper and play him every week.

"Three of them have played in the last six games between them so it's not great. Any player needs to play regularly and that could be a factor as well.

"We have three goalkeepers and we have to make sure, whoever is picking the team, that the right one goes in. It's an important position.

"I'm sure all the strikers made mistakes today but when the goalkeeper makes a mistake, then it can cost you game and that's what happened today."

Eyebrows were raised when Velicka was withdrawn for Christian Nade within a few minutes of his goal and Frail added: "I don't think it's any secret that I don't make the substitutions.

"If that was the reason we lost the game, we could look at it. But it wasn't the reason we lost the game.

"He had done that much work and had given everything he had. It was a great goal. It wasn't as though we put on a defender, we put on someone with real pace and power who didn't really get into the game and that was a disappointing factor from the way the substitution went."