Stunned Wouter Vrancken last night branded his 10-man Hearts side’s dramatic late collapse at Aberdeen as unbelievable and told them they must quickly develop an ‘over my dead body’ mindset.
The Tynecastle outfit were 1-0 up at half-time through Oisin McEntee’s opener and looked in a comfortable position – and on the way to the club’s first win at Pittodrie for ten years – as the game entered the 90th minute.
However, a cheaply conceded and badly defended free-kick saw Lewis Mayo snatch an equaliser and, just 33 seconds later, referee David Dickinson awarded a spot-kick that Dons captain Kevin Nisbet converted to secure the points.
Dejected Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken was left shellshocked at Pittodrie
Stuart Findlay was sent off late in added time and conceded a penalty to rub salt in the wound
Hearts defender Stuart Findlay was red-carded for bringing down Toyosi Olusanya in the area in that match-defining incident and left Vrancken trying to make sense of it all after suffering his third straight loss in the wake of the six-goal aggregate thrashing from Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying.
The Belgian had bemoaned his side’s lack of killer instinct against the Austrians as well as their tendency to ship goals in short spaces of time and found himself stuck in the same horror movie in the Granite City.
Vrancken, now facing a trip into the lions’ den to face Benfica on Europa League duty on Thursday, said: ‘It’s (about being) clinical again. It’s five minutes again that you are losing it and it’s unbelievable.
‘You have to show this “over my dead body” mentality in those last moments. We cannot give these games away.
‘The first half was OK. Not many chances. Our quality on the ball was not good enough, but we had more control in the second half.
‘I was happy with this, but, then, we weren’t smart at the end. We had to keep the control in these moments instead of, like, going everywhere. Then, it’s effort. You must put yourself out there. To give it away in five minutes like that was so disappointing.
Kevin Nisbet celebrates his spot-kick winner as Aberdeen completed the late turnaround
‘It was good in the defending part, until the last five minutes. We were not ruthless enough in both boxes. Their first goal was frustrating, we gave it away. It didn’t have to be like this because we controlled the game in the second half.
‘We were good in many occasions in both boxes, but you have to do that for the full 90 minutes — and plus.’
Delighted Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson felt his side’s never-say-die attitude was a strong reflection of the changes he has demanded since taking over at the end of last term.
He said: ‘In the last couple of minutes, we showed great determination. That wouldn’t have happened last season. When I came in, I didn’t think we had enough fight.’
Nisbet, meanwhile, insists he should have been given the equalising goal credited to Mayo following a free-kick from substitute Stuart Armstrong.
Nisbet told Sky Sports: ‘Stu comes on and gives a bit of quality with that ball to the back post. I think it’s my goal, but big Mayo is claiming it.’
