The first whistle saw European competition proper return to Pittodrie after a 16-year absence, but the opening stages were rather anticlimactic, with neither side mustering much in the final third.
Aberdeen’s best avenue to goal seemed to be from the long throws they continually rained in on HJK’s area, and one almost paid dividends when Bojan Miovski headed narrowly wide, after Stefan Gartenmann’s initial throw was recycled and the HJK defence had a lapse in concentration.
The Dons were feeling a little aggrieved before the break, as they felt they should’ve been playing out the best part of an hour against 10 men, after Georgios Kanellopoulos caught Duk with a flying elbow.
VAR failed to intervene, while a swift check also denied Aberdeen a possible penalty.
However, if they were smarting at that, they’d have been seething 15 minutes into the second half.
HJK were rejuvenated after the break, and made their dominance count when Pyry Soiri got to the byline and cut the ball back for Bojan Radulović, who made no mistake in firing high into the roof of the net.
That goal seemed to spur Aberdeen back into life, and while boss Barry Robson will have been angered that it took falling behind to wake his side up, he’ll have been pleased with the response that almost yielded an instant leveller from the boot of Miovski.
It was mostly one-way traffic on the HJK goal after their opener, and Aberdeen finally reaped their just rewards when a HJK defensive mix-up saw the ball drop favourably to Miovski, who this time made no mistake in netting an equaliser to set up a grandstand finish.
Aberdeen certainly weren’t happy to sit on the draw, but despite their best efforts, they couldn’t force a late winner.
It’s undoubtedly a result which suits HJK more, although it did extend their winless away run in European competition to nine matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen)
