Dick Campbell believes his Arbroath side were denied a crucial point in their fight for Championship survival by two controversial refereeing decisions.
Campbell was booked for dissent as he protested against referee Steven McLean’s decision to allow play to continue while his captain Tam O’Brien was on the deck injured as Craig Wighton raced clear to put his side 3-2 up.
Earlier on, Campbell insists Dunfermline’s opening goal came as the result of a soft penalty award for Colin Hamilton’s trip on Wighton.
“The third goal was key to the match,” said Campbell. “Dunfermline’s striker clashed with Tam O’Brien and Tam had a bad fall on his shoulder.
“It happened right in front of the referee and my players stopped. The referee allowed play to go on and Dunfermline scored.
“I asked the referee after the game why he didn’t give a foul and he said that because it wasn’t a head knock he didn’t stop play.
“Are you trying to tell me that it has to be a head knock before he stops play to give a foul?
“He’s an experienced referee but he refused to stop the game when a player was badly injured.
“My players shouldn’t have stopped and I’ve pulled them up for that too.
“When you are at primary school level you are told to clear your lines. That advice still stands at this level and we didn’t do that.”
Arbroath will host Morton on Friday night knowing that they will clinch their place in the Championship next term by avoiding defeat.
“If you’d said to me at the start of thre season we would have a game against Morton to stay up then I’d have taken it,” added Campbell.
“Don’t underestimate the part Inverness could yet play. I don’t know what kind of team Neil McCann will put out against Ayr but we can’t think too much about that.
“It’s in our hands and it’s down to us. Arbroath is certainly the place to be on Friday.”
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