East Kilbride Rugby Club coach Allan Steel blasted the performance of the match referee for costing his side victory over Lenzie.
The Torrance House side were edged out 13-15 on home soil on Saturday, leaving them languishing sixth in West Division One after five matches.
Matthew Fletcher and Ian Brown got the tries, with Lucas Aitken putting a kick over, while some wayward kicking from the usually reliable Scott Shankie contributed to a frustrating afternoon.
But it was the “inconsistent” display from the officials that really irked Steel, who felt his side should have come away with victory if not for two major errors
He explained: “The decisions were poor for both sides all day from the official and that didn’t help the game.
“For me, there were a couple of big decisions that went against us that shouldn’t have.
“In the build-up to their scores, there were knock-ons that were missed and then we should have had a penalty try for a cynical foul, and we didn’t get that.
“It was just a day of inconsistency.
“I was pleased with the boys’ performance, but I’m just disappointed with the result because we were excellent throughout.
“We just need to be more clinical in the final third. We let a few chances go that we should have converted and we should have had the game won before it got into the final 15 minutes.
“We dominated up front, dominated the line-outs, dominated the scrums, dominated possession, but just didn’t convert some of our chances.
“We missed a few kicks that normally our kicker would get and that would have got us the win, but it was just one of those afternoons.
"Shankie had a bit of an off-day, which isn’t like him.
"Lucas Aitken put a kick over when Scott was off injured, so it was good for his confidence to slot one over.
“It’s a side in transition with a lot of injuries, so we’ll keep going and put things right.”
East Kilbride now face a tricky trip to Allan Glens, who boast a 100 per cent record so far.
But Steel’s side have had plenty of the bragging rights over their rivals in recent year and the gaffer hopes that continues on Saturday
He added: “Allan Glens are one of the top teams in the division and are usually a very attractive, attacking side.
“But we’ve had the beating of them the last few years and we know how to beat them.
“We’ll go there confident we can put in a performance to come out on top.
“They had the weekend off because of the extra team in the division this year, so they will be a wee bit fresher.
“We’ll train hard this week and hopefully give a good account of ourselves.”
Kick-off on at Allan Glens on Saturday is 3pm.
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