A composed first-half finish from Claudio Braga proved decisive as Heart of Midlothian extended their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to seven points with victory over Aberdeen.
Hearts dominated the opening period at Tynecastle and eventually turned their superiority into a breakthrough.
After squandering an earlier opportunity with an attempted lob, Pierre Landry Kabore made amends by teeing up Braga, who finished calmly to give the hosts the lead.
Chances continued to flow for Derek McInnes’ side.
Tomas Magnusson headed wide, while Blair Spittal, Kabore and Braga all threatened to double the advantage before the interval.
Aberdeen, watched on by former manager Alex Ferguson, struggled to make an impact and extended their dismal run of failing to score away from home in 2026.
Toyosi Olusanya twice steered efforts wide from Topi Keskinen deliveries before the opener, while Kevin Nisbet volleyed off target after the break.
A tactical reshuffle to a back three and the introduction of Stuart Armstrong improved the visitors’ competitiveness in the second half, but their cutting edge remained absent.
Late penalty appeals involving Armstrong and Nisbet were waved away, compounding another frustrating afternoon.
Aberdeen sit eighth, one point behind Dundee United and 13 adrift of sixth-placed Falkirk, with the split looming.
When Hearts began their campaign with victory over Aberdeen, it hinted at the contrasting seasons that would follow.
McInnes’ men have rarely faltered since and now have nine games remaining to try to secure the club’s first top-flight title since 1960.
With Rangers and Celtic set to meet on Sunday, Hearts are guaranteed to gain ground on at least one of their closest challengers this weekend.
More importantly, they control their own destiny - continued wins will keep the dream firmly in their hands.
For Aberdeen, last season’s Scottish Cup triumph has not translated into league consistency.
Their inability to score on the road threatens not only their Premiership ambitions but also casts doubt over their upcoming Scottish Cup quarter-final trip to Dunfermline Athletic.
As the title picture sharpens at the summit, the pressure intensifies at the other end - and the trajectories of these two sides could scarcely be more different.
Hearts manager Derek McInnes: "The performance, when you look at the stats and how it felt in there, as if it was more than a 1-0 but we only get the one goal and that's the only thing we're really disappointed with.
"We needed Tynecastle to be like that. We needed to play forward, we needed to pass forward. We needed to try and put Aberdeen under stress. I thought we did that. We scored a really good goal.
"In the main, we defended really well. As a team, we were thoroughly deserving of the three points."
Aberdeen interim manager Stuart Armstrong: "We lacked a wee bit of quality in the final third. Too many shots getting blocked, never caused them enough problems. Second half a bit better but nowhere near good enough.
"The Stuart Armstrong one for me, we got a player sent off last week - Liam Morrison - when the Dundee player cut in front of him and went down. That was the same scenario here. You can clearly see his knee coming into Stuart at the side. For me, it's a penalty all day.
"Kevin was adamant that his arm came round the side. Obviously, they checked it. They said it was outside the box."
