Raith Rovers were left pointing the finger at referee George Salmond after losing their unbeaten home record in a 2-1 defeat to Hibs on Saturday.
Goals from John McGinn and Jason Cummings put Hibs 2-0 up at the break, but after halving Hibs’ lead midway through the second half with a trademark header, Rovers striker Jon Daly believed he should have been awarded a penalty kick when an overhead kick effort was blocked by the hand of defender Paul Hanlon.
It was one of four penalty claims the Kirkcaldy side made in the closing stages as they desperately pushed for an equaliser that would have extended their unbeaten run at Stark’s Park to eight games.
“You can tell by the players’ reaction that they thought it was a penalty,” said Daly.
“I don’t know if his hand was out or not, but it’s stopped it going towards goal and taken the sting out of it.
“I’ve seen them given but unfortunately for us it wasn’t given today.
“There were one or two others that on another day you might have got. It’s frustrating that we’ve not got them and not taken anything out of the game.”
Daly also felt whistler Salmond failed to give him equal treatment in his battle against Hibs centre-half Liam Fontaine.
“When you’re six-foot-three you generally don’t get protection from the referee,” he said.
“I’m a big lad and I dish it out enough so I can certainly take it. I’m not going to moan about not getting free-kicks.
“You just like the referee to treat both sets of players accordingly.
“Unfortunately for me I didn’t get that today. We try to bounce back in the next game.”
Hibs took just four minutes to grab the lead as McGinn collected a loose ball 25 yards out and smashed an unstoppable left foot shot into the net via the inside of the post.
The visitors doubled their lead on 26 minutes as a high kick-out from Mark Oxley was misjudged by Lewis Toshney, and Cummings’ instant control and sublime lob beat Cuthbert.
Raith had looked out of sorts in the first half, but the hosts were a different proposition after the break and they got back into the game on 64 minutes when Jason Thomson floated a cross to the back post for Daly to head home.
Two minutes later, the home side lost teenage substitute Craig Wighton to a potentially serious knee injury as he was stopped in the act of shooting by a crunching Lewis Stevenson tackle, who took ball and man, but Salmond waved away penalty claims.
Raith piled on the pressure, and Hibs were fortunate to escape a strong penalty claim when Daly’s overhead kick struck the arm of Paul Hanlon, but Salmond again ignored the protests.
The referee was equally unmoved when Daly appeared to be barged in the back by Fontaine before Grant Anderson hit the deck after a shove from Darren McGregor.
“The players are adamant we should have had a penalty,” said Rovers boss Ray McKinnon.
“I wasn’t overly impressed with the referee, especially the decisions against us. We had a mountain to climb but we gave everything we had. If you’re going to lose a game, that’s the way to lose it.”
Elsewhere, Falkirk moved above Raith into third place on goal difference following a 5-0 win at Dumbarton, with former Rovers striker John Baird grabbing a hat-trick.
Morton beat Alloa 1-0 while Livingston shocked Queen of the South with a 4-1 victory in Dumfries.