Gary Naysmith believes East Fife should have ended Saturday’s match six points clear of Annan Athletic not level with them.
The fourth-placed Fifers arrived at Galabank three points ahead of their hosts and after sub Alan Cook stepped off the bench to cancel out Peter Weatherson’s opener, it was the Methil men who looked the likeliest victors.
With their tails up, the Bayview men pressed in the last quarter of an hour, with Cook going desperately close to a winner when his brilliant effort came back off the inside of the post.
But Annan, who had fallen out of the game, scraped a last-minute winner which left player-boss Naysmith both angry and apologetic.
Home striker David Hopkirk was tripped by the ex-Scotland left-back as he burst into the box but still appeared to get a shot away before falling to the ground.
Ref Gavin Duncan pointed to the spot and sent Naysmith off before Annan sub Scott Davidson despatched the penalty.
Naysmith held his hands up with regard to the foul but felt he shouldn’t have been penalised because he believes he didn’t stop Hopkirk getting a shot in.
Naysmith said: “There’s no way we deserved to lose that game. Once we got level, we looked like the only team that was going to win it, so to come away with nothing is massively frustrating, especially as their winner came from my mistake.
“I’m not denying I caught the boy, but he stayed on his feet and got his shot away and then five seconds later they get the penalty.
“I don’t agree with that because they effectively got two chances to score.”
The main positive for Naysmith was the form of Cook, who scored a brilliant equaliser from the edge of the box in just his second substitute outing after almost three months out with a knee problem.
He said: “We can’t expect too much from Alan because he’s not fully fit yet but it will be like having a new signing. He’ll boost our squad.”