Sir Alex Ferguson watched on as Hearts defeated Aberdeen 1-0 to move seven points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Ferguson, the last manager to win the title with a team that was not Celtic or Rangers when his Aberdeen side were back-to-back champions from 1983-85, was at Tynecastle as a guest of the Hearts coach, Derek McInnes, and he saw Cláudio Braga score what proved to be the only goal of the game just before the half-hour mark.
Hearts had enough chances to have won more convincingly, but their supporters greeted the full-time whistle with jubilation as they stretched their lead over Rangers and Celtic, who face each other at Ibrox on Sunday.
“It felt like a big game, I think the fans made it that, and the situation in terms of the context of the league made it that,” said McInnes. “It looks like a tight scoreline but I thought it was a very good performance. It was exactly the type of performance we needed it to be. We had more crosses in today’s game than we’ve had for a long time. It was the type of performance I was hoping for.
“In an ideal world, you would want a second goal to enjoy that last part, but it was a good three points, no more than we deserved.”
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Brooklyn Kabongolo scored for the second game running as bottom-placed Livingston drew 1-1 at home to St Mirren, who had led through Dan Nlundulu’s powerful header on the stroke of half-time. PA Media
McInnes said of the former Manchester United manager Ferguson’s presence at Tynecastle: “He sat in the office for about an hour before the game. It was nice for him to see Tynecastle the way it was and see a winning performance. He’s watched us a lot this season and he’s quite tuned in to what we’re doing so I’m grateful that he’s made the effort to come and see us today.”
Hearts were supposed to be going to Dubai on Monday for a warm-weather training camp but those plans have been shelved amid escalating hostilities in the Middle East.
“We woke up this morning and were resigned to it that we’ll not be travelling,” said McInnes. “I think there’s more important things going on. It’s disappointing obviously, but we might push it down the line because there’s going to be opportunities between now and the end of the season where we could maybe just do a similar booking. But we’ll just train as normal in Edinburgh this week.”
There were two changes to the Hearts side that started last weekend’s victory over Falkirk as Jamie McCart and Landry Kaboré replaced Stuart Findlay and Islam Chesnokov. The Aberdeen interim manager, Peter Leven, made three changes to the side that started Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at Dundee United as the goalkeeper, Per Kristian Bråtveit, Tom McIntyre and Kenan Bilalovic were replaced by Dimitar Mitov, Liam Morrison and Topi Keskinen.
Aberdeen had not won at Tynecastle since May 2017 and they swiftly found themselves on the back foot as Hearts, backed by a pumped-up home support, started strongly. Tómas Magnússon had the hosts’ first chance in the fourth minute when he headed wide from Blair Spittal’s cross.
Alexandros Kyziridis then had a shot deflected into the arms of Mitov before Braga’s low effort from just inside the box was saved by the Dons keeper. Braga threatened again when he glanced a header over from Harry Milne’s cross.
Hearts were playing some scintillating football and they had a huge chance in the 21st minute when Kaboré got himself clean through but the forward’s lob over the advancing Mitov drifted agonisingly wide. Aberdeen had a rare foray forward in the 26th minute which resulted in Toyosi Olusanya lashing wide from Keskinen’s cross.
The breakthrough came for Hearts in the 28th minute when Marc Leonard sent Kaboré scampering down the right and the Burkina Faso striker rode the challenge of Morrison before cutting the ball back for Braga to steer home from six yards out.
Spittal then rasped an effort just over from the edge of the box in the 36th minute as the league leaders had to be content with a one-goal advantage at the end of a first half they had dominated.
Four minutes after the break, Kaboré had a ferocious shot pushed out by Mitov. Aberdeen countered and Nicky Devlin had an effort scrambled behind by McCart after being set up by Olusanya. From the resulting corner Kevin Nisbet volleyed narrowly wide. At the other end, Spittal had an effort deflected behind from the edge of the box before Braga was denied by the legs of Mitov.
Hearts’ failure to find a second goal meant they had to endure a stressful finale before closing out another crucial victory in their quest for a first league title since 1960.
