Aberdeen 2-3 PAOK Salonika: The 46 minutes that left Barry Robson’s side asking questions

Aberdeen had seemed on course for a first European group stage win in almost 16 years

“We made mistakes and lost goals. But the referee and VAR has made a mistake. It doesn’t help us now, does it? What do we do? Do we sit and argue it again? It doesn’t help me any.”

Barry Robson is right – sitting and arguing won’t help him. And after surrendering a two-goal lead and missing out on Aberdeen’s first European group stage win in almost 16 years, help might just be exactly what he’s after.

He has right to be disgruntled. Not just with his players’ feeble capitulation with 18 minutes of normal time to play in their Conference League defeat by PAOK Salonika, but also with the indecision of those in the VAR room.

The swipe that took the legs of Jack MacKenzie seemed a certain penalty, a sense of incredulity pouring from the Pittodrie stands as the wheels began to come off amid a unfathomable 46 minutes of football.

According to Robson, he wasn’t the only one left frustrated by decisions made amid the madness.

The Aberdeen manager told TNT Sports: “They got it wrong once – again. It’s not even hard to get right. It’s happened to us in the past. I don’t know why it’s not been checked.

“I know the referee has come in and kicked his own door on the way in. I don’t know if that’s an indication that he knows he’s made a mistake? But he cost us tonight.

“It’s a learning experience but this is a top team we’re up against. We pressed at the right times, we could’ve been better with the ball – we know that. I’m really gutted for the players, because what a performance that was.”

The performance that Robson praises so highly hit its peak at the start of the second half. Two goals in quick succession from Bojan Miovski and Dante Polvara had Pittodrie in a state of continental cacophony.

What followed was a continental calamity.

‘You felt it was coming. There’s questions to answer’

Midway through the second half, Aberdeen looked comfortable against a team that had dumped Hearts out of the competition in August.

They had all the swagger and guile of the team that swept aside Copenhagen the last time they tasted victory in group stage European football.

What changed? That’s what many supporters will have been asking themselves as they left Pittodrie. A triple substitution when Aberdeen were in the ascendancy could well be the answer.

“You just felt it was coming,” Aberdeen legend Willie Miller said on Sportsound. “Why did they feel the need to put Duk on? The job was done, they didn’t need Duk. You didn’t need to put him on the field of play. Why Clarkson instead of Connor Barron? Why did that need to be done?

“It all got a little bit nervous, a bit uncertain. There’s questions for Barry Robson to ask himself. He’ll be sat in the house tonight working through how he managed to lose that one.”

Robson may attribute the collapse to the slip of Richard Jenson, which allowed PAOK to claim a foothold in a game that their reach.

He may attribute it to the MacKenzie non-penalty that followed, a moment that Aberdeen fans will watch over and over, wondering why VAR didn’t intervene and give their side the opportunity to retake a comfortable advantage.

He may attribute it to more mishap at the back, when Jonny Hayes failed to clear the ball before feeling the impact of Vieriniha’s strike ricochet off him en route to goal to bring the visitors level.

Wherever the Aberdeen manager choose to point the finger of blame, it seems apparent that at least a degree of introspection will be needed.

“I think Barry Robson got a lot right, but I don’t think he made the substitutions at the right time and I don’t think it was the right players,” said Sportsound pundit Rory Loy.

“They were so comfortable, so well organised, I don’t see why the changes were made.”

At this point, having gone from soaring high to hanging in, a final nail seemed inevitable. It’s a story too often told for Scottish teams in Europe. It’s a story Aberdeen were desperate to re-write.

But the final chapter of a rollercoaster second-half was written in the name of Stefan Schwab, who stayed cool to condemn Aberdeen to a defeat incomprehensible 20 minutes prior.

How Robson tackles this latest blip on the European stage that his club once thrived on is yet to be seen.

It is another memorable night under the Pittodrie lights, but for those fans who roared with ecstasy and expectation, it’s one that will linger for all the wrong reasons.