Referee Mike Roncone drew the wrath of both managers after a breathless 1-1 Championship draw between Dundee and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
A chaotic end to the contest in the Highlands saw Neil McCann’s side reduced to nine men before taking the lead through Daniel Mackay’s opener on 83 minutes.
The Dark Blues levelled matters through Lee Ashcroft’s towering header three minutes later to rescue a draw.
However, a disallowed goal for Jason Cummings seconds after Brad McKay’s red card “robbed” Dundee of all three points according to boss James McPake.
After Cummings had headed in from Fontaine’s flick, the Dark Blues celebrated and took their place for the restart before the officials ruled offside.
McPake said: “The explanation I got was that right away the referee was asked: ‘Who touched it? Possible offside.’
“I’ve got the luxury of seeing it back and it was a good goal.
“Credit to Inverness and credit to Neil because they hung on and got the point but we are bitterly disappointed.
“That’s twice we’ve been up here and robbed through officiating.”
‘Bitterly disappointed not to take all three points’
On the performance, McPake said: “I thought we were really poor in the first half, as poor as we’ve been in a while.
“I don’t think either team were at their best. You could have given the two teams no points for that first half.
“We made changes and were the better team in the second half. We started moving the ball about better and had chances. We conceded a ridiculously bad goal.
“We also lost a ridiculously bad goal through officiating. Then we showed character to come back and get a point but we’re bitterly disappointed not to take all three.”
The point leaves Dundee trailing second place Raith Rovers by four points with two matches remaining.
It keeps Inverness four points behind the Dark Blues themselves but more is still needed to confirm a place in the play-offs.
McPake added: “We wanted to cement the play-off place tonight but it didn’t happen. We have a massive game now on Saturday against Raith Rovers.
“We will need to be a lot better than we were first half tonight – the second half should be enough.”
McCann to appeal red cards
McCann, meanwhile, insists he will appeal the red cards for Scott Allardice and Brad McKay.
Allardice, already on a yellow card, was given a straight red by the referee after a fierce tackle on Charlie Adam on 64 minutes.
Then with 11 minutes to go, Caley were down to nine after Brad McKay lunged in on Declan McDaid.
The Inverness interim boss, however, wasn’t happy with either decision.
“Scott Allardice has gone in hard on Charlie Adam, of that there’s no doubt, but it is a physical game – he’s gone low and won the ball,” McCann said.
“Scott is adamant it wasn’t even a booking.
“Brad McKay’s is just plain wrong – a shocking decision.
“How he can see that as a straight red card I have no idea whatsoever.
“Those decisions put us so far behind the eight ball, but we wanted to try and retain a threat and did that with nine men.
“Dan MacKay scores a brilliant goal and then we’re hit with a sucker-punch from big Ashcroft, with a brilliant header.
“I thought Cummings was off-side in the lead-up to the corner. Our centre-backs believe that to be the case.
“We wanted to win the game with nine men. We’ve been so positive on our run. It is risk and reward and we got our reward.”
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