IT was a save which anyone who saw it will remember for a long time and one that cemented Stefan Klos' position as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe.

With 56 minutes gone against Hearts on Wednesday evening, the German goalkeeper dived to his right to keep out a powerful

header from Gary McSwegan, who could only stand with his head in his hands in disbelief.

At the same time, Hearts coach Jim Jefferies, his assistant Billy Brown, and even the security man near their dugout all turned away and looked to the heavens in amazement and frustration.

Just as everybody at Tynecastle instinctively thought that Tugay had handled before passing to Rod Wallace to score, then the same people instinctively thought that the McSwegan header was heading into the bottom corner of the net.

At the risk of sounding xenophobic, if the save had been made by a goalkeeper south of the border it would have been run on all the news bulletins and there would be lists being made up of the best saves ever made, no doubt with Gordon Banks' save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup topping the table again.

As it is, the exposure to the incident was better than usual with Sky television broadcasting the game live, and a copy should be sent to the German FA to show their boy is still in good nick.

The fact that the save came with the scores at 1-1 made the Klos stop even more significant, with Billy Dodds scoring seven minutes later to give the Ibrox side a win that takes them to only two victories away from retaining the league title.

Such was the level of Klos' performance, the Hearts players were full of praise for the man who signed for Rangers from Borussia Dortmund for #700,000 and who became an Ibrox hero after a string of good performances last term and recent displays in matches against Celtic.

Darren Jackson, who turned up at Tynecastle yesterday for treatment, reckons that Klos has now emerged from the shadow of former Ibrox legend Andy Goram, to become one of the best goalkeepers Rangers have ever had.

''I honestly thought the header from Gary was in the net, and I couldn't believe Klos saved it,'' said Jackson. ''I think he has shown that he is a world-class keeper, and when he first came to Scotland it was probably hard because any keeper was going to have a tough job to replace Goram.

''I think Mark Bosnic is also finding it hard because he has to replace Peter Schmiechel at Manchester United, but I think Klos has shown now he is exceptional and he has done a fantastic job.''

Hearts goalkeeper Antti Niemi, who left Ibrox after Klos took over the No.1 jersey, said he was not surprised at the save that the German pulled off.

''I was obviously at the other end of the pitch, but even from there it looked a great save,'' said Niemi. ''To be honest, I wasn't surprised as I had seen him do that sort of thing in training at Ibrox all the time. Even before that, when I was playing in Denmark I used to watch him play in the German league for Borussia Dortmund, and he was pulling off great saves back then.

''He is quick, agile and I believe that both he and Edwin Van Der Saar of Juventus are the two goalkeepers I feel who have fulfilled their potential and kept their good form going for years and years.''

Klos played down the quality of his save and was slightly offhand in his response to questions as to where he rated it in terms of significance and quality. He rather dismissively described it as ''an okay save'' and ''one of the best saves I made during the Hearts game.''

The German may have been under-playing the moment because he felt guilty at the way he rushed from his area for Hearts opening goal from Gary McSwegan in 12 minutes, which allowed the striker to lob the ball home.

Klos said afterwards he felt he had come off his line too quickly and was caught in no-man's

land, but he certainly made up for it with his save from the same player later on.

Meanwhile, the debate over whether Tugay handled the ball rages on with, not surprisingly, the Rangers players saying he did not, and the Hearts players saying he did.

Jackson, who said he had a good view of the incident, said it was a clear hand ball and the game should have been stopped.

''I have seen the television pictures since the game, and I think everyone knew it was a hand ball but the ref never gave it,'' said the Hearts midfielder.

''That is two debatable decisions we have had against Rangers in our last two matches, as there was also the controversial decision with Lorenzo Amoruso at Ibrox when he seemed to be the last man when he brought Colin Cameron down.

''However, we just have to carry on and not get too down about it, because if you keep thinking about it, you will drive yourself mad.''