Crusaders suffered more penalty shootout agony as Tuesday's Euro playoff with Cliftonville ended in controversy.
Cliftonville emerged with a nail-biting 5-4 shootout win at Solitude, with Michael Ruddy appearing to miss Crusaders' final attempt.
Ruddy's effort cannoned off the underside of the crossbar and bounced back down, with the match officials determining the ball had not crossed the line.
But television replays clearly showed the ball had gone over the line and should have been marked as a goal.
That would have sent the shootout into sudden death, but instead Crusaders are out, with Cliftonville now into Saturday's playoff final where they will meet Larne at Inver Park.
It is cruel luck on the Crues, who two weeks ago were left reeling when their Irish Cup semi-final penalty shootout against Larne ended in the North Belfast club lodging a protest with the Irish FA.
Crusaders claimed that the laws and rules of the game were not applied correctly in that shootout at Mourneview Park.
Their protest detailed what the club called "multiple separate breaches of Laws 10 and 14 of the IFAB Laws of the game", but it was dismissed by the IFA on the day of the final.
Stephen Baxter and his players will be fuming at this latest blunder, which has cost them a shot at reaching the Europa Conference League, and the financial windfall that comes with qualification.
Meanwhile, Larne booked their place in the final with a late 2-1 win over Glenavon.
Danny Purkis had given Glenavon an early lead but that was quickly wiped out by Davy McDaid's equaliser.
The winner arrived in the 93rd minute, Marty Donnelly steering a superb shot into the corner of the net to keep Larne on European course.
