St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright felt referee Gavin Duncan was fooled by play-acting when Hibs won a penalty last night.
Saints were sitting 1-0 up and looking pretty at McDiarmid Park until visiting frontman Florian Kamberi went down inside the box under a challenge by home player Liam Craig.
After watching the incident back on video, Wright was in no doubt that it was simulation on the part of the Swiss striker.
However, he also blamed his own players for losing 2-1 to the 10-man Hibees.
Chris Kane had given them the lead after 15 minutes only for Marc McNulty to level with the controversial spotkick on 65 minutes then grab the winner five minutes from time.
Wright said: “We have somehow managed to find a way to lose the game.
“We should have gone two up before half-time and we were under no pressure.
“And then the referee gets conned for the penalty.
“It’s not a penalty, simple, but I don’t blame the ref.
“I’ve watched it back and you have to be embarrassed for the lad. Well, maybe not – I’m not sure what type of character he is.
“But he’s conned the referee, simple.
“He has looked as if he’s been hit by a 40-foot truck.
“The referee feels there was more contact and, yes, the way he went down you would think there was more contact.
“But I don’t think Liam Craig touches him.
“That’s the game-changer. It’s not the reason why we lost the game but it was a game-changer in terms of them getting back into it.
“Then, we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot. The second goal was down to us.”
