Dunfermline captain Andy Geggan and manager Allan Johnston accused Falkirk substitute Myles Hippolyte of conning referee Gavin Duncan into awarding a game-changing penalty to the Bairns.
A tempestuous East End Park encounter saw the visitors come from behind to retain second place in the Championship and finally extinguish 10-man Pars’ remote hopes of reaching the play-offs.
“I don’t know how he has conned the referee into giving the penalty,” said a clearly disappointed Geggan after the game.
“I’ve watched it back and its clear to see Sean Murdoch’s hands come round and flick the ball away before Hippolyte goes down.
“I can’t believe neither he nor his linesman saw it. It’s an absolute shocker, on a par with the one we saw at the Ross County v Celtic game last week.
“Hippolyte even told me during the game that it wasn’t a penalty. I tried to talk to the referee on the way off the pitch and he said he’d speak to me inside but that didn’t happen.
“It’s maybe not for me to call but something needs to be done about these situations.”
Dunfermline needed to win this game, and their next two, while hoping that Morton would lose their three remaining fixtures in order to edge their way into a play-off spot.
Although such a sequence of results would have constituted a minor miracle, it didn’t stop the Pars from taking the game to their rivals from the start, top scorer Nicky Clark testing Bairns keeper Robbie Thomson with a couple of early headers and Paul McMullan squandering an excellent chance when clean through on goal.
Clark broke the deadlock 10 minutes from the interval when he latched on to a header from Kallum Higginbotham before sending a low angular shot past Thomson.
The Pars looked to be in control but the pendulum swung in Falkirk’s favour early in the second half when Murdoch was controversially adjudged to have fouled Hippolyte in the goalmouth, with Aaron Muirhead driving home the resultant penalty award.
Dunfermline boss Johnston then took the unusual step of replacing Murdoch with David Hutton, perhaps in recognition of the keeper’s visible distress at the penalty decision.
Worse was to follow when substitute Lewis Martin, on the field for only three minutes, received a straight red card for a foul on John Baird.
As Falkirk looked to take advantage of their numerical superiority, James Craigen struck Hutton’s right-hand post with a blistering shot before Nathan Austin headed home the winner from Craig Sibbald’s 70th minute cross.
Johnston said: “I don’t want to make excuses but it was never a penalty. Sean pushed the ball away and Hippolyte dived. It was a real game-changer as were in control at that stage and looked like winning.
“I felt the linesman could have helped the referee out bearing in mind his position, but that decision summed up the performance of the officials today.”