Claudio Braga sets golden boot target as Hearts ignite Tynecastle fear factor for title race home stretch

He’s chasing down the golden boot - but Claudio Braga insists that’ll be little comfort if Hearts don’t hold onto the Premiership’s first place.

The striker lead the line in impressive fashion again for Derek McInnes’ side in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Falkirk. A draw for Rangers and Celtic defeat a day later means the Jambos hold a four-point lead over the Light Blues in second heading into this weekend’s Tynecastle clash with Aberdeen, and the Old Firm also takes place, meaning more points will be spilled in an enthralling title race.

Currently on 11 league goals for the season, Braga is tied with Tynecastle teammate Lawrence Shankland for strikes, but his injury is likely to see the Portuguese forward pull out in front. That leaves Celtic’s Benjamin Nygren and Motherwell’s Tawanda Maswanhise out in front on 14 goals, and the Jambos favourite wants top marksman status in May. The feeling of scoring during defeat to Rangers was nothing in comparison to tasting victory at the weekend when he hadn’t netted, so he’s keen to see the team thrive before personal endeavours.

Claudio Braga on winning the golden boot

“I think it was a good three points,” Braga told the Evening News. “That was the main thing, to be honest, for Saturday. It doesn't matter if it's 1-0, we got it, so hopefully a lot of 1-0’s until the end of the season. The goalkeeper made good saves and congratulations to him. I wanted to score of course, I'm a striker and I want to catch up in the first place in the goalscorers, not going to lie. At the same time, last week I scored and I didn't feel as good as I feel this week. That's important.

“As a professional, we're a team first. We need to be able to put the team first. At the same time, of course, as a striker I always have personal milestones. From the point that I start to get even better, then I go up a little bit more. Now I t definitely want the golden boot in a way. That doesn't matter as much as us keeping the first place.”

Shankland, Cammy Devlin, Stephen Kingsley and Beni Baningime were just some of the players missing for Hearts against Falkirk. It meant Braga was one of the more familiar names on the team sheet and he is hoping his performances in leading the line show a positive example in terms of leadership.

“Hopefully,” said Braga. “I try. Even with some key players out the team, of course, I try to also lead in a way of running a lot and try to work as hard as I can. Of course, if it didn't work out in quality, it needs to work out in aggressiveness and energy. Now, because I play most of the games and some guys that come in now for other players probably haven’t played that much, I feel I take a little bit more responsibility. I like that pressure, I like that responsibility, so hopefully I can lead by example to my teammates.”

What have Hearts tried to create at Tynecastle?

Victory over Falkirk kept Hearts unbeaten in the league at Tynecastle this season and fans inside the stadium displayed a banner that read ‘10 to go’ as anticipation builds for a dramatic end to the season. Braga feels a fear factor has emerged at Tynecastle as the focus remains week to week rather than what could be in the spring.

“I feel like Tynecastle is our home and we just need to make sure of that,” the forward added. “Of course we try to win as many away games as we can, but at our home since the beginning, that needs to be the place that we don't lose. That people fear to come here. I feel we make that place like that by the supporters pushing us, also making a lot of noise and also us trying to do our best even more because we're playing home. We need to show that people have to have respect for this home. So that's probably the main reason.

“Of course we need to take the thinking out of there, but of course everybody knows we're only 10 games away, it's been a long season. 28 played now, so 10 games to go is definitely a short path, but we just need to keep focussing game by game. The next game against Aberdeen at home is before the short period that we're going to have without games. It's very important for us to take a week of rest and try to come back even stronger for the coming weeks.”