Wouter Vrancken was left stunned that Hearts failed to kick off their William Hill Premiership campaign with a victory after Aberdeen staged a late fightback to defeat his side 2-1 at Pittodrie.

The Jambos looked on course for a much-needed win after a turbulent few months as they led through Oisin McEntee’s first-half goal.

But just as they looked to be closing out a first victory at Pittodrie for more than a decade, Lewis Mayo equalised in the 90th minute before Kevin Nisbet won it for the Dons with a stoppage-time penalty after Stuart Findlay was sent off for denying Toyosi Olusanya a goal-scoring opportunity.

It was a third consecutive defeat for Belgian head coach Vrancken, who has endured a chastening start since replacing Derek McInnes in June, and yet another kick in the teeth for Hearts’ embattled supporters in their first league match since they were pipped to the title by Celtic in May.

“We were in control,” said Vrancken, whose side face a daunting Europa League qualifier away to Benfica on Thursday. “I think when I look back at the game, it’s unbelievable that we lost. And that we didn’t win the game, actually.

“First half was too much up and down. We didn’t have enough control on the ball, so the quality on the ball had to be better. We pointed some things out at half-time and second half was much better in that area, so we controlled the game more.

“We had the ball more in control, so we could also manage their moments. All went well, but then at the end, you get those two goals in five minutes. You have to be clinical. We were clinical in our defensive box until then. But it’s not enough to be for 85 minutes. It has to be 90 and more.

“I think the boys did a lot of good work until now, and today you see the steps they made. But you have to show this ‘over my dead body’ mentality in these last moments. This is also part of football, and we have to do better in this because we cannot give away those games.”

Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson, whose starting XI included eight summer signings, reckons the team he inherited in March would not have had the resilience to dig out a result like this one.

“If you’re going to win, doing it in the last minute is going to make it a lot more exciting,” he said.

“What I can categorically say is that wouldn’t have happened last year. When I came in I thought we lacked fight, we lacked desire. But with a lot of new players as well, a back four that’s never played together before – I thought they were excellent, all four of them – we showed great character to come back against Hearts.

“Make no mistake, they are a very good side. They’ve been beaten by a good, good Sturm Graz side, so it’s a fantastic result for us.”