Aggregate match on. Pointers

I need a solution that retains Parse Aggregation using matching by Pointer reference.

I know there’s already posts on the forum regarding this and their solutions fall back to complex queries (which I’m trying to get away from for scope requirements)

Work in progress code is this:

        const queryAuction = new Moralis.Query("Auctions");
        queryAuction.equalTo("objectId" ,request.params.auctionId);
        queryAuction.select("objectId")
        const auctionObject = await queryAuction.first();

		if(ascending === false) {
			srv = -1
		}

		if(!_sort) {
			_sort = "_updated_at"
		}

		matches.auction = { $eq: auctionObject }
		if(phrase && phrase.length > 1) {
			matches.searchIndex = { $in: phrase }
		}

		const pipeline = [
			{ project : { objectId : 1 , title : 1, lot : 1, lloydsLotId: 1, asset: 1, auction: 1, isActive: 1  } },
			{ match : { '_p_auction': auctionObject  }},
			{ sort : { _sort : srv } },
			{ limit : perPage },
			{ skip : offSet },
			{ count: "count" },
		];
		const query = new Moralis.Query("Items");
		const items = await query.aggregate(pipeline);

The pointer object, prefaced with p as per Parse DB scope on pointer calls isn’t returning data