Substitute Garang Kuol grabbed a dramatic stoppage-time leveller as Hearts fought back to draw 2-2 with Rangers at Ibrox.
The Jambos needed a win for their bid for third place in the cinch Premiership and skipper Lawrence Shankland sensationally opened the scoring after less than a minute.
It took until added time in the first half for Rangers midfielder Todd Cantwell to level.
Attacker Fashion Sakala put Rangers ahead in the 47th minute but in the final seconds of three added minutes Kuol took advantage of some slackness to fire in the equaliser.
Michael Beale’s side are unbeaten in 19 home league games, with 16 victories and three draws, which is a positive.
But with Aberdeen dismissing St Mirren at Pittodrie, Hearts cannot catch the Dons, who will finish best of the rest outside the Old Firm.
Rangers, who will be runners-up behind Celtic, finish their season with a trip to St Mirren on Saturday but already planning is under way for next season.
The Light Blues announced before the game that 25-year-old midfielder Kieran Dowell would be joining the club from Norwich.
The club also asked fans to stay behind to pay tribute to Allan McGregor, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Kent, Scott Arfield and Filip Helander, all of whom will leave in the summer.
McGregor and Morelos started the game but ideas that it would be simply a sentimental night of reflection ended within seconds, following a long throw into the Rangers penalty area from Hearts defender James Hill.
Jambos midfielder Peter Haring helped it on, Rangers skipper James Tavernier tried to clear but only to Shankland whose header hit team-mate Josh Ginnelly and fell back to him to bundle over the line from two yards.
After a long VAR check referee John Beaton pointed to the centre circle and Hearts were officially in front.
Minutes later Haring sent Ginnelly through and his drive after turning defender Leon King was beaten away by McGregor.
It was not the start the home fans expected and the Rangers reaction was hesitant.
Hearts keeper Zander Clark had to deal with King’s long-range drive which deflected off Hill and Nicolas Raskin’s thunderbolt from distance before tipping a Sakala drive on to the post and behind.
Jambos interim boss Steven Naismith, a former Rangers striker, was booked for throwing on a ball to waste time just before the interval but there was time for Cantwell to get the break of the ball off Hill to run through and confidently slot the ball past Clark, with Morelos carrying on a feud with Naismith that had lasted a few minutes.
Two minutes after the restart Sakala took advantage of a slack header by defender Toby Sibbick at the edge of the box to squeeze the ball past Clark with the backtracking Hill unable to keep it out.
In the 64th minute Arfield got a huge cheer from the home fans when he came on as substitute along with Rabbi Matondo, with Glen Kamara and King making way.
Arfield’s curling shot from the edge of the box in the 73rd minute was pushed behind by Clark and the visitors survived the corner, albeit they seemed to be running out of belief.
Arfield had a shot from six yards blocked by Clark before Cantwell fired the rebound wide of the target.
Morelos got his acclaim when he was replaced by Scott Wright and the home side spurned more opportunities as the game fizzled out, only for Kuol, on for Alan Forrest in the 83rd minute, to pounce at the end to spoil the going away party.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Clement wants ruthless Rangers after nervy win over Hearts
Rangers boss Philippe Clement called on his team to show greater ruthlessness after they were made to work for a 1-0 win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Cyriel Dessers put the Gers ahead after just six minutes at Ibrox, diverting James Tavernier's effort past visiting goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
However, Clement's team failed to build on that quick start and inched over the line amid a tense atmosphere, moving back to within nine points of pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen.
Speaking after the game, Clement acknowledged his players are fatigued after a gruelling run of fixtures but added they must start taking their chances.
"We made too many wrong choices with the ball and became too sloppy," Clement said.
"It's the end of a very busy period, though, with a lot of travelling and they're all human beings, not robots.
"We missed scoring the second goal and we know that until you get that goal the other team stays in the game, so I want us to kill the belief of the opponent faster.
"I'm very satisfied with the result and the deserved three points. We didn't show the same quality in the second half and we didn't finish off the game. We had a few chances, but it stays nervous until the last second."
Rangers host Dundee United after the international break, while Celtic visit Hearts and Aberdeen travel to St. Mirren.
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