St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright claimed his side were hard done by as they lost 2-1 to Tayside rivals Dundee in the Ladbrokes Premiership at Dens Park.
The Perth outfit had a Liam Craig effort disallowed a minute into the second half as referee Kevin Clancy spotted a foul by Steven MacLean on Dundee midfielder Nick Ross.
They were angered further in the final minute when Dark Blues defender Thomas Konrad appeared to pull Brian Easton’s jersey inside the box as the visitors pushed for a leveller.
Wright was frustrated afterwards and felt his men had cause for complaint, saying: “I thought we deserved something from the game and why the goal was chopped off I don’t know.
“And we should have had a penalty in the last minute when Brian’s jersey is pulled inside the box.
“When you combine decisions going against us and individual errors, that’s why we’ve ended up with nothing.”
St Johnstone began brightly but were hit by first-half goals from James McPake and Kane Hemmings.
Wright admitted poor defending on both occasions cost his players dearly.
Wright said: “It was like deja vu. We started the game well and looked good.
“But then they scored from a corner when our defender should have showed more desire in the tackle to clear it.
“We go 1-0 down when we were on top and from then on we lose our way a bit which is understandable.
“The second goal is criminal from us though. It’s from our corner and we get caught on the counter-attack. It should have been stopped but it wasn’t.
“It’s very disappointing but we just have to move onto the next match.”
Dundee manager Paul Hartley saluted home goalkeeper Scott Bain for a stunning save which denied Graham Cummins, to preserve what at that point was a 1-0 lead.
Hemmings doubled the advantage, but MacLean’s 54th-minute response for St Johnstone made for an anxious finish for the hosts.
Hartley said of Bain’s intervention: “It was a terrific save. Scott’s in top form for us. He’s a great keeper with a big future.
“It was a bit nervy towards the end as we didn’t kill them off. Again we had some good opportunities and and then we let them back into it.
“But I’m pleased overall with the points. We were up against a very good side and have to take a lot of positives out of this game.”