Dundee manager Neil McCann claimed his players did not deserve their latest “gut-wrenching” defeat, which left them bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership.
McCann’s men looked like they might build on their first win of the season when they went ahead inside 10 minutes against Kilmarnock as Adil Nabi fired home from 18 yards.
But Jordan Jones levelled with a heavily-deflected strike seven minutes later and then went down easily in the box to win the visitors a hotly-disputed 54th-minute penalty, which Eamonn Brophy tucked away to earn Killie a 2-1 victory.
McCann was adamant there was no contact as Cammy Kerr initially moved to challenge the winger and he found it difficult to accept how the game had panned out.
“Listen, you have heard 100 managers say it, when you are down there sometimes things go against you,” he said.
Speaking about the equaliser, he added: “It was on a counter-attack, we let him inside, it takes a deflection and goes in the net. And there’s things tactically that I was possibly not happy with and we can improve on, but that’s just gut-wrenching when a decision like that goes against you, against a very good side, because it gives you an uphill battle.
“My boys didn’t deserve that and I told the referee (Steven McLean) that. I have to watch my comments, but I feel pretty sick just now.”
McCann credited Kilmarnock for their game plan but he felt his side could have built on their opener had fortune been with them.
“It was a great finish, good football,” he said. “We were maybe a little bit square at times and needed to penetrate some more, because against a team like Kilmarnock they sit and they live on that turnover, trying to steal the ball and going at pace, and that’s what they have had a great success with. So I’m not disrespecting that.
“We showed glimpses of how good we can be, but it’s difficult when you are trying to come back from a punch in the face like that, because the boys actually probably feel physically sick, because they can’t do anything about that. It’s taken out their hands.”
Killie’s win could have been more comfortable after they were handed a second, more clear-cut penalty when Calvin Miller clumsily challenged Chris Burke.
But Greg Stewart saw his effort saved after having to wrestle the ball from team-mate Aaron Tshibola, who was soon substituted.
Killie boss Steve Clarke, whose team moved third in the table, said: “I actually spoke about it in the dressing room after the game. Sometimes when you have that little argument, that little discussion, it just puts that extra five per cent pressure on the kicker.
“Whether it contributed to Greg missing or not, or whether he’s not a very good penalty-taker, I don’t know. But the third goal would certainly have made it an easier run-in for us.
“Having said all that, I thought we saw out the game out really well and really professionally.”
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