Hearts Vs Aberdeen — hearts vs aberdeen: Claudio Braga sends league leaders seven points clear

hearts vs aberdeen produced a 1-0 victory for Hearts at Tynecastle as Claudio Braga's strike shortly before the half-hour mark secured three points and moved the league leaders seven points clear at the top of the Premiership. The win came in front of a full house and leaves Aberdeen eighth after a fifth game without a win.

Hearts Vs Aberdeen match report

Claudio Braga scored the only goal of the game from about 10 yards just before the half-hour mark. The opening period saw Braga force Dimitar Mitov into a save after 10 minutes and then send a header wide shortly after. Pierre Landry Kabore should have put Hearts ahead after 21 minutes when he latched onto a ball over the top but could not lift his lob over the onrushing Mitov on target. At the other end Toyosi Olusanya troubled the home defence and provided a good outlet for the visitors, including getting on the end of a low cross from Topi Keskinen that Olusanya fired well over.

Braga's half-hour strike details

Kabore did well to muscle down the right-hand side, avoiding a sliding challenge from Liam Morrison, before picking out Braga, who slotted home from around 10 yards. The strike was Braga's 15th of the season and was described as potentially one of the most vital of the campaign. That goal allowed Derek McInnes' side to sit back and watch the Old Firm encounter at Ibrox on Sunday with interest, and it widened the gap at the top for 24 hours.

Second-half chances and statistics

After the break Hearts pressed again, with Kabore stinging the palms of Mitov and the goalkeeper later denying Braga at the back post after Braga met Kabore's flick-on. Aberdeen struggled to create clear chances in a stuffy second half; Kevin Nesbit produced a wayward first-time volley that was the visitors' best effort as they finished the game having failed to register a shot on target. Aberdeen did push for an equaliser in the closing stages but Hearts held on for a vital three points.

McInnes and Ferguson reaction

Hearts head coach Derek McInnes praised the performance: "I was just really pleased with the performance. I thought the application, the approach to the game was spot on. Obviously, when you play the way we did and try to go all in it does leave you with some scary moments in transitions with the pace of [Topi] Keskinen and [Toyosi] Olusanya at times, there were a couple of wee moments in the first half but I thought the performance in terms of shots on target, pressure and set plays, it's the most we have put crosses in in recent weeks. I thought the output from that side was really good and you look at the stats, you think you'd get more than one goal so we are disappointed from that sense but I don't think Alex [Schwolow]" — unclear in the provided context.

McInnes, who was formerly in charge at Aberdeen, also singled Braga out for praise and said "this week will good for him" as the striker manages a groin issue; Hearts are not in action again until 14 March. Sir Alex Ferguson was in attendance at Tynecastle as the guest of honour. Ferguson, 84, was manager of Aberdeen's 1985 title-winning side and was a player in Scotland when Hearts last won the top flight in 1960; Aberdeen's 1985 title preceded 40 seasons of Glasgow dominance that began after Hearts' final-day loss of the league to Celtic in 1986.

Player comments and season context

Claudio Braga, the Portuguese forward and former Aalesunds player plucked from Norwegian football, said: "With the stands behind us, the players gave everything and we just won. Now we're getting to a point with maybe just a little bit more tension. We feel it from the stands a little bit. It's normal. At the same time, we know we can do this. That goal probably gets the stands even more relieved of tension and behind us even more. They were amazing. " Braga has scored 15 goals in 35 appearances.

For Aberdeen the result was another disappointment in a stuttering season that has all but ended hopes of a top-six finish; they sit eighth after a fifth game without a win. Hearts' 1-0 home win was their second on the bounce and, with nine games to play, moved them seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership. Challenges remain: Hearts will play high-flying Motherwell twice before the end of the season, will likely travel to Celtic Park and to Hibernian's Easter Road after the split, and will host Rangers, who beat them at Ibrox earlier this month.

Wider Premiership notes and manager reactions

Sportscene highlights are scheduled to start at 19: 15, with Richard Foster joining Steven Thompson in the studio to analyse goals. Other managers across the Premiership offered reactions from their matches: Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann said of his side's defeat by Falkirk that "It doesnt help when you lose a goal in the first minute. We were beaten by the better team today, without question. I've got no gripes. Falkirk wanted it more, they were aggressive, up for it and it could have been more. "

Hibernian head coach David Gray reflected on a late equaliser: "Very mixed [emotions], just due to the nature of a whirlwind game. To lose a goal with the very last kick feels like two points dropped. What's massively let us down today is the goals we've conceded. We were the better side but the defending has cost us. The players then showed incredible character to be 2-1 down, to then go 3-2 up. The subs came on and impacted the game. The players are hurting though. The story is that we've come to a tough place, scored three goals and only got a point. That shows you where we've let ourselves down today. "

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin criticised a penalty decision in his match: "Motherwell have only suffered one defeat in the league since the middle of October so we always knew we were going to be up against it. I thought the shape in the first half was really good, we denied Motherwell any real clear-cut goalscoring opportunities. The game is turned on the penalty decision as far as I'm concerned. Motherwell didn't have a shot on target prior to the penalty kick being awarded. I have no idea why VAR are getting involved in that incident. The referee didn't deem it violent conduct otherwise he would have sent Vicko Sevelj off the park. That type of pushing a player away happens 100 times in a game, every weekend, and today, for some reason, we find ourselves with a penalty kick awarded against us. Every week we're talking about VAR and the refereeing in the country and it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time soon. We go in 1-0 down at half time extremely disappointed because we didn't feel we deserved to be behind. The second goal was a real killer for us, terrible timing and that made life even more difficult. "

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson summed up a draw as "a point gained. Any point away from home is a positive, we felt we could add three points, they had that one opportunity and score from it, it's a long looking ball into the box, we just didn't defend it properly. "

Hearts held on at Tynecastle to keep top spot and to preserve a seven-point lead, while the Premiership season continues to provide tense fixtures and manager reactions across the division.