Montrose manager Stewart Petrie was in no mood to look for excuses after his side lost at home to Annan to slip eight points behind the Borders outfit in the race for a play-off spot.
Montrose were on the wrong end of a few first-half decisions by the referee, but Petrie was honest in his assessment at full-time.
“In the first half we were poor and Annan were by far the better side and worth their 3-1 lead.
“We gave ourselves too much to do against a side that is going really well.
“Our effort was great in the second half. We got a goal, but we could have done better with a few other chances and their keeper made some saves.
“We didn’t defend well in the first half and I would not blame any refereeing decisions.”
Annan took the lead on five minutes. The referee over-ruled an offside decision by his assistant and gave a drop-ball, and within seconds the ball was in the home net courtesy of a Rabin Omar drive from just inside the box.
Montrose were level just two minutes later. Chris Templeman head-flicked the ball on and Gary Fraser pounced to score.
Annan scored again on 15 minutes. Home keeper Jordan Millar failed to hold an Omar cross and Max Wright had a tap-in.
The visitors added a third on 23 minutes. Montrose appealed for a free-kick as Annan were awarded a corner. The corner was not cleared and Steven Swinglehurst scored from the corner of the box.
Montrose wasted a glorious chance to get a goal back on 35 minutes. Andrew Steeves was tripped in the box by Jean-Guy Lucas but Fraser struck his spot-kick too close to keeper Blair Currie, who dived to save.
Montrose narrowed the deficit to one on 56 minutes. A Steeves cross was headed out and Kerr Hay smashed the ball home.
Two minutes later, Annan’s Darren Ramsay picked up a straight red for a wild lunge at Hay.