Tommy Wright has blasted referee Don Robertson in the wake of Kilmarnock’s Scottish Cup exit.
The whistler awarded St Mirren a 119th penalty to send the tie into penalties at 3-3 – and the Buddies had a flawless shootout to get into the semi-finals.
But the Killie boss reckoned Robertson wanted the final say on the game.
Wright said: “Let’s be honest, Don Robertson put it into penalties through a poor decision.
“If he is man enough he will own up to it, I will go and see him tonight after the game.
“Down the years I think I have had to go and see him more than any other ref.
“He changed the whole game, we could have dealt with it better and Millen could have put his foot through it, but it’s never a penalty.
“The goalkeeper clearly gets the ball, the fact that it spills out is irrelevant, Don wanted the final say and he got it.”
Wright added: “It was extremely disappointing because we were the better team.
“Their keeper had more saves to make, we were the dominant team and we went out because of a poor decision – that can happen in cup football.”
Kyle Lafferty missed the clash due to an ankle injury, but Wright hopes to have him back for their vital Premiership trip to Motherwell on Saturday.
He said: “We will assess him this week and hopefully we can get him back for Saturday.
“I will be delighted if he’s available on Saturday, there’s a chance, but he should definitely be fine for the last two games.”
Wright says he’s not concerned about the result affecting them heading into the final three games as Killie aim to steer clear of relegation.
He said: “I will be concerned if we make individual errors and bad habits creep back in like they did against St Mirren.
“But the performance doesn’t concern me, we scored three without Kyle when people thought we couldn’t.
“The team is in a good position, we will recover and go to Motherwell to try and get a vital three points.”
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
