Goodwin relieved as Aberdeen come out on top after goals, thrills, spills and VAR

Aberdeen severely stung the Hibees in a pulsating game that produced goals, thrills and the inevitable drama with VAR centre-stage and controversial. Two goals from Bojan Miovski – including a penalty-kick re-take – a thunderous strike from midfielder Ylber Ramadani and a cheeky one from Leighton Clarkson, capped a compelling performance from the Dons, boosted by a first-half stoppage time penalty following input from video-watching officials Steven Kirkland and Andrew McWilliam. They were also involved later as they decided the Easter Road side’s Mykola Kuharevich was not offside when he pulled a goal back for his team. Unsurprisingly, the views of the managers on the VAR decisions differed. Jim Goodwin, the Dons manager, refused to gloat and insisted the scoreline flattered his side. “I did feel the first goal was going to be huge and it’s probably going to be a big talking point, but the decision has gone in our favour. “VAR’s been in place all over the world for years and the main aim is to get the big calls right more often than not. “It was really important that we got the three points back off Hibs that they got at Easter Road. “For us to beat Hearts and Hibs at home the way we have is brilliant.” The ban of Goodwin following his critique of Ryan Porteous’ behaviour after he accused the Hibs defender of cheating when the teams met at Easter Road in September, still reverberated enough to make the Pittodrie showdown a must-see match. And the home supporters among the 16,500 attendance weren’t disappointed as the message came over that Friday night football is a winner. Hibs boss Lee Johnson’s focus, though, was on VAR. "If you'd fallen asleep watching the TV at 44 minutes and woke up to be told Hibs had lost 4-1, you wouldn't have believed it,” he said. "That's really disappointing but I've got to be critical, because we've lost 4-1 and our fans demand better, and we weren't good enough in both boxes. "The second and third goals are really poor from us - physically poor, mentally poor, organisationally poor. "When you've had the lion's share of possession and you've been in control, you've got to do better.” This was a game full of tempo as well as boundless energy and any amount of determination from both camps. But there wouldn’t be a show without VAR and a series of incidents and questions as the game entered add-on time after 45 minutes were played. Lopes, through on goal, went down as Marshall collected the ball with a dive at the Dons man’s feet. Was it a penalty or was “Duk” offside? Goodwin admitted later that he thought he might have been. The two players at the centre of the query stood alongside referee David Munro for several minutes before it was suggested in the match official’s earpiece that he might like to look at the footage. A penalty-kick was awarded and Marshall’s diving save from Miovski’s spot-kick was exceptional. Smiles turned to frowns among the Easter Road men, however, as Munro’s video assistant reported that Marshall had committed an infringement. Miovski, offered an opportunity to make amends for his earlier failure, whacked the ball into the Hibs net as the scorer of Aberdeen’s 500th goal since the inception of the Premier League. It also came a full eight minutes of additional time, so slow did it take to reach a decision. The North Macedonia international’s second came in the 53rd minute as he had the cleanest of headers from Leighton Clarkson’s cross from the left while the Hibs defence looked at each other and asked: “Who was supposed to be marking him?” That question might just have still been racing through their minds when Ramadani stepped in with an unstoppable strike on the hour mark before Kuharevich completed a quick-fire Hibs manoeuvre to pull one back on 70 minutes. Was he offside? The referee procrastinated. His colleagues looking at the replays did not. Still on the front foot, though, the Dons dared to try for a fourth goal and when substitute Marley Watkins delivered a danger low ball towards Marshall, Clarkson found the ball caught in his feet but retrieved the situation by simply back-heeling it home for his side’s fourth. Temperatures in the north-east might have dropped last night, but the happenings at Pittodrie sizzled and the Dons sit third in the Premiership table.