When was the last time Hearts defeated Aberdeen at Pittodrie?

Saturday’s match at Pittodrie could easily be a pivotal one in the chase for European football in this season’s cinch Premiership.

Hearts currently hold a five-point lead in third place over Hibs. While there’s no doubt this is a tricky fixture for Robbie Neilson’s men to navigate this coming weekend, on paper Hibs have the much harder task of going to the home of the reigning champions.

It’s a good chance for Hearts to extend their advantage while also denting any hope the Dons have themselves of coming back into contention. The Reds are seven points behind at present and could jump over Hibs into fourth with a victory.

To further strengthen their hold on third, and the likelihood it’ll lead to a guarantee of at least eight games in European football next term, Hearts will have to buck recent trends when they go up the north east. The men in maroon are currently on the receiving end of a six-game winning run by their hosts in the fixture, while there’s been no victory in the last nine for the Capital club.

Abiola Dauda celebrates scoring the only goal of the game as Hearts defeat Aberdeen at Pittodrie in 2016. Picture: SNS

To find the last triumph we have to go all the way back to May 2016. It was a meaningless end-of-season contest in front of the BT Sport cameras and settled by just the one goal. Alim Ozturk’s free-kick could only be parried by goalkeeper Adam Collin and loanee Abiola Dauda was there to score from close range.

It was the Nigerian’s fifth and final goal in a Hearts jersey following his short-term move from Vitesse in the Netherlands.

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