Dundee were left fuming after two late goals turned Saturday’s match at Falkirk’s Westfield Stadium on its head.
Barry Smith’s side were well in control after Stevie Milne gave them a half-time lead, with the breakthrough just seconds before the interval.
With Graham Bayne striking the crossbar, Nicky Riley bringing out a great save from Michael McGovern and Neil McGregor having a header cleared off the line after the break, the Dens Park men looked set to build on the previous week’s defiant 10-man victory over Raith Rovers.
But with the clock ticking down, and in the space of just seven minutes, Falkirk hit back with goals from David Weatherston and Frenchman Farid El Allagui.
Dundee keeper Rab Douglas was left raging, however, as he insisted El Allagui’s winner should not have stood. Bairns full-back Kieran Duffie appeared to barge into the veteran goalie as he fielded a looping cross inside the area.
With the ball subsequently spilling from Douglas’s grasp, Duffie reacted first and El Allagui had the simple task of bundling in the defender’s centre from two yards out.
“I think it was a foul,” said Douglas. “I’m going to say that, obviously, but I don’t think the boy even looked at the ball.
“He’s got momentum up, but there you go the ref’s decided it wasn’t.”
The former Scotland man added: “Some you get and some you don’t. I’m massively disappointed on my behalf because I think it was a foul.
“I thought I had it in my hands on the way down when he clattered me.
“I’m not going to go as far as saying the refs are clueless because there won’t be many have played in goals. But if I had smashed the boy would he have given a penalty on the other hand?”
Dundee manager Smith also felt his side should have been awarded a free-kick by referee Steven McLean, but he laid at least part of the blame for the defeat at the feet of his forwards for not taking opportunities.
Milne’s opener came after Riley’s left-foot drive on the break was palmed away by McGovern, but the Dark Blues couldn’t find the killer second.
As time wore on, the defence dropped deeper and deeper and they eventually cracked 11 minutes from full-time when Weatherston raced on to Blair Alston’s chip and beat Douglas at his near post.
Seven minutes later, what should have been a hard-earned point slipped from Dundee’s grasp as Falkirk completed their late comeback.