John McGlynn has lamented the officiating decisions that went against his Raith Rovers side during their playoff defeat against Dundee — but insists his players did him proud.
The Fifers turned in a gallant showing at Dens Park, claiming a 1-0 victory on the night courtesy of Lewis Vaughan’s first-half strike.
However, they were unable to rectify the damage done by their 3-0 defeat in the first leg on Wednesday evening as the Dee marched on to battle for their place in the Premiership next term.
And McGlynn was left to rue Reghan Tumilty’s disallowed goal at Stark’s Park, which would have levelled the score at 1-1, and a penalty claim given short shrift by referee Don Robertson at Dens.
“I look back at the goal we didn’t get in the first game. If we had got that it would have been 3-2 in the tie and Dundee panicking even more than they did,” said McGlynn. “I don’t want to hark back to that, but it is a big moment in the tie.
“There were a couple of penalty claims there in the second leg, too. We didn’t get the penalty for handball in the second half, whereas Kyle Benedictus had a handball given against him for that in the last game here.
“These are all very fine margins. What’s a penalty and not with handball?
“Getting that second goal would have given us a massive boost. We went for it got a great start and put pressure on them. We had to be direct and make them panic. But it wasn’t to be.”
However, his immediate disappointment should not overshadow how much respect McGlynn has for a group of Raith players who reached the Premiership playoff semi-finals in their first campaign since winning promotion from League 1.
“I’m proud of the players. They’ve delivered some tremendous performances, scored great goals and had a lot of plaudits, even from within football, which pleases me,” said McGlynn.
“Now, we’ve got to continue to get better.
“We need to sit down with players and see who is signing — some will stay, some will go, we’ve already signed up a few.
“We’ve done really well this season and, although we need to manage the expectation, we’ve raised the bar.”
