You could cut the tension with a knife on Aberdeen’s home Europa Conference League group stage debut.
Turns out you could draw blood quite easily, too, as Aberdeen’s clash with HJK Helsinki descended into a bloodbath before ending in a 1-1 draw.
We’re still a few weeks from Halloween, but the Dons and the Finnish champions provided a spectacle which was an early contender for an x-rated horror movie, given the manner in which the claret flowed at Pittodrie.
Duk was the first to give blood for the cause after being caught in the ear by the flailing elbow of Helsinki’s Georgios Kanellopoulos out near the touchline.
Remarkably, Polish referee Daniel Stefanski did not see anything wrong with the midfielder’s challenge.
In fact he penalised Duk instead, with VAR seemingly taking no interest in the incident involving the the prone Cape Verde international.
No sooner had Duk recovered and he was in the wars again -this time with team-mate Richard Jensen.
The two went up for a Leighton Clarkson delivery into the box, but their clash of heads left Jensen wearing a crimson mask.
The game looked to be up for the defender as he trudged down the tunnel and Jonny Hayes was stripped and ready to take his place.
But Dons boss Barry Robson is nothing if not brave, and he opted to play six of the 10 added minutes in first half stoppage time to allow Jensen to have treatment in the Dons dressing room before returning to the field.
The trademark Terry Butcher headband was there, too. Only in a fetching Aberdeen red, of course.
Stoppages did not help Aberdeen’s cause
In amongst all the bloodshed, we had time for Nicky Devlin to take a sore one following a high boot for good measure.
You can’t say the two teams were not committed, that’s for sure.
In a game of precious few chances, the lengthy stoppages did little to help improve the flow of the game as far as the Dons were concerned.
The two best chances of a cagey first half fell Aberdeen’s way, but Duk’s header was saved by Jesse Ost, while Jensen headed a Leighton Clarkson corner wide.
Both Bojans delivered in second half
Helsinki may not have offered much in front of goal, but their passing was slick and the air of menace was there whenever they were on the ball.
It was clear if Aberdeen were to get a win here, it would be one of the ugly variety.
But it was the visitors who made the breakthrough on the hour mark with their first meaningful move of quality.
In the meeting of the two number nines named Bojan, it was Helsinki’s Radulovic who drew first blood (if you will pardon the pun) as he beat Kelle Roos with a fine finish from Pyry Soiri’s cutback.
It was the 23rd goal of the season for the Helsinki striker, and yet another reminder of how punishing European football is at this level.
Going behind sparked a sense of urgency in Aberdeen.
Captain Graeme Shinnie took a fresh air swipe at a cross before Bojan Miovski was denied by Jesse Ost as the Dons chased an equaliser.
But the Dons striker did convert his next chance as he headed home a Jensen cross, which had been flicked on by visiting captain Miro Tenho’s poor attempt to clear to set-up a pulsating finale.
Aberdeen threw everything at Helsinki, but in the end they had to settle for a point. You suspect there may be a sense of frustration it was not three.
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