Gutsy Aberdeen hold PAOK at Toumba - McGrath's special goal, hope for Rangers final, player ratings as two land 8/10

Barry Robson’s men picked up a very credible 2-2 draw against the Greeks at their notoriously hostile Toumba Stadium. As a consequence of this result and Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-0 win away at HJK Helsinki, Aberdeen – on two points – cannot catch leaders PAOK, on ten points, nor the Germans on nine, but with two further matches to play in the pool phase, big Premiership matches and a Viaplay Cup final next month against Rangers to look forward to, the Dons are becoming a team who can rise to the big occasion.

Coming off an emotionally and physically draining 1-0 victory with ten men against Hibs at Hampden, there were fears Aberdeen may find the going tough against a PAOK team who came back from 2-0 down to pip them 3-2 at Pittodrie two weeks ago. But this squad, chucked together over the summer after 11 of them came through the door, is steadily evolving. The Greeks played some good stuff and laid siege to the visitors’ goal at the end but could not find a way through, each of Aberdeen’s defenders holding firm under intense pressure.

They are fast becoming a team in the mould of their manager: tenacious, committed, resolute with no shortage of aggression and skill. Striker Bojan Miovski was kept on the bench after his match-winning contribution at Hampden but his replacement, Duk, opened the scoring on 14 minutes, taking in a fine Nicky Devlin cutback, swivelling and drilling a left-footed effort past PAOK keeper Dominik Kotarski. The Cape Verdean has not hit the heights of last season but this was a timely reminder of what he can do.

Unsurprisingly, PAOK rallied. This is a team with ambitions of winning the Greek Super League, and one that took down Olympiacos in Piraeus at the weekend. Goals are their speciality at home and Taison soon had them level on 23 minutes, coolly finishing Kiril Despedov’s cross after Slobodan Rubezic had mistimed a tackle. At that point the hosts were warm favourites to push on and maintain their 100 per cent record but the Dons shut them out until the break.

It took until 67 minutes for substitute Aly Samatta to cutely glance PAOK ahead but parity was restored three minutes later. Take nothing away from Jamie McGrath’s long-range free-kick, which was sweetly struck, but a limp-wristed Kutarski ought to have kept it out. Not that the pocket of Aberdeen fans at the other end of the stadium cared a jot.

Then the pressure. Tonnes of it. PAOK crashed forward, wave after wave of attacks, but the closest they came to an equaliser was when referee Juxhin Xhaja was duped by Giannis Konstantelias into awarding a penalty for a supposed foul on him by McGrath. It was a clear dive and thankfully VAR agreed. Aberdeen’s defence did not deserve heartache.

Out but not down, this Aberdeen team. They are more than capable of getting a group-stage win, be it in Helsinki against HJK later this month, or in December when Eintracht come to town. Although Dons fans would rather wait three days after that, when Rangers are tackled at Hampden. A night like this will give them more optimism.

Aberdeen player ratings: Roos 7; Devlin 7, Gartenmann 7, Rubezic 7, Jensen 7, MacKenzie 7; Duncan 7 (Hayes 3), Barron 6, Shinnie 6 (Polvara 3), McGrath 8 (Miovksi (n/a); Duk 8 (Sokler n/a).