Aberdeen 0 St Johnstone 0: Instant reaction as Barry Robson laments VAR

Barry Robson was left questioning refereeing decisions once again after Aberdeen were held to a goalless draw by St Johnstone. Dara Costelloe fired over the crossbar during the opening exchanges as the well-organised visitors began the match with intent. Both teams took time adjusting to the uncomfortable rainy conditions with little quality on display. Graham Carey tried his luck from distance but clear-cut opportunities were few and far between in front of the 16,816 crowd at Pittodrie. The hosts thought they had finally broken the deadlock when Andrew Considine put the ball beyond his own goalkeeper on the stroke of half-time. However, a lengthy VAR check resulted in the goal being chalked off for an offside against Duk. Loud boos greeted the officials as the side's trudged off at the break, and the second 45 continued in the same vein as the first. Momentum turned towards Aberdeen, though. Richard Jensen headed into Dimitar Mitov's gloves before Bojan Miovski fluffed his lines from close range. The Red Army attempted to lift their men to victory when five minutes were added on. Instead, nothing could separate the pair and VAR came into the spotlight yet again. Here are five burning issues from the clash...VAR Fury Referee David Munro and his fellow officials won't be rushing back to the Granite City anytime soon. There were several fouls that went unpunished from Munro, much to the frustration of the home supporters. Although, the stop-start nature didn't allow any flow to proceedings. The hosts were denied a certain opener before the break. Perhaps Cape Verde striker Duk was deemed to be in an offside position and interfering with play despite Saints defender Considine being the one who netted. There were also numerous penalty shouts waved away to further anger the north-east natives. Robson was left furious at the level of officiating going back several weeks. He claimed: "I don't know, it's like every single detail of the game is detailed in such scrutiny and it comes down to somebody else's interpretation against somebody else's. It's like where do we go with it? My frustration is when a referee makes a wrong decision or a manager or a player, before VAR comes in we'd all talk about it now. We are talking about VAR a week later of the same incident and it's so frustrating, it's like every game it's like here we go, here's another talking point. So, decisions went against us again." His counterpart Steven MacLean thought the correct decision was made when asked about the disallowed goal. He said: "I think it was just the correct call. Last week, we didn't get the correct call, the sending off was wrong which was proven and the penalty was wrong. I've spoken to referee's and they've said it was wrong so I think VAR just done its job this week. That's what I think everyone's looking for."Minimal rotation Connor Barron and Jonny Hayes were the only changes for the hosts ahead of the game as Leighton Clarkson and Jack MacKenzie made way from Thursday's Europa Conference League draw with HJK Helsinki. While the rarely-spotted Vicente Besuijen was included among the substitutes. Robson has alluded to the fact that everyone in his squad will get an opportunity as a result of a busy schedule. Despite that statement, so far it has been the same core of players he has tended to stick by. During the game, he did make a big call before the hour mark by withdrawing his captain Graeme Shinnie in an attempt to freshen things up. The oncoming Leighton Clarkson did lift the tempo but the lack of cutting-edge inevitably cost his side. The struggling visitors made one alteration to their starting XI. Dan Phillips dropped out with an ankle issue in place of Matt Smith. Nicky Clark and Diallang Jaiyesimi featured on the bench for the first time this season after long-term injuries.Unbeaten run extended Robson's reds have gone five-games without a defeat and are only two points away from third place in the Premiership. Nonetheless, they will have expected to beat St Johnstone on home turf and sitting in eighth position isn't where the club want to be. St Johnstone are still without a win in their eight league games so far. Given that record, they unsurprisingly find themselves adrift at the bottom of the table. They will be relieved that the international break is upon us, which will buy MacLean time as the Perth Saints showed vast signs of improvement compared to recent weeks, especially in midfield, with Maskym Kucheriavyi and Sven Springier particularly impressive. Their first clean sheet since holding Celtic to a goalless draw at the end of August will have also pleased the visiting manager.Braving the weather The ball was spinning ferociously throughout and it certainly kept those on the pitch. Hayes slipped almost immediately after kick-off which definitely set the tone. The game wasn't going to go down as a classic. St Johnstone just about edged the first half and Aberdeen the second. Yet, Robson knows there's no excuse for a sloppy performance. He said: "I think first half, we never performed. I thought we were sluggish. We looked a bit lethargic, slow. I don't think St Johnstone brought anything either in the first half. I thought it was quite poor. We had a word with them at half-time and we definitely came out the second half a different team and in the end listen, we could have come away with two or three goals. That's the biggest frustration for me."Dons forwards lack clinical touch Duk tested Mitov with a swirling free-kick early on, but was otherwise fairly anonymous for large spells given his high standards. Miovski also spurred his moment to be the hero when he scooped the ball over the bar when it appeared the net was about to explode. It wasn't just the striker's who struggled. The Dons lacked cohesion and for the first time in a while, were outfought by their Perth counterparts at times. Duk was the catalyst in forcing Considine into an own goal from an excellent Barron cross and will feel aggrieved that it was ruled out.