Thomas O’Ware looked to have earned his side a point at Stark’s Park when he cancelled out Mark Stewart’s first-half strike with thunderous volley eight minutes from the end.

But Kirkcaldy skipper Jason Thomson bundled home a 94th-minute winner to leave the shell-shocked visitors with nothing to show for their efforts.

Both of Raith’s goals came from inadequately defended set-pieces, and goalkeeper Gaston admitted the manner in which they conceded was a real source of frustration.

He told the Tele: “It is a tough place to come, especially with the start they’ve had here this season.

“I thought we were more than a match for them over the whole 90 minutes so it’s really disappointing to get nothing from the game.

“We have conceded two similar goals. One’s at the end of the first half and one’s at the end of the game — and there’s nothing worse than a last-minute goal.

“The goals are definitely the most disappointing thing. We can’t be disappointed with our performance because I think we played quite well.

“It was a game of few chances. There weren’t too many opportunities to score. I don’t remember having much to do other than one save [from James Craigen] in the first half.

“It’s just the two goals that we gave away, and at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about: scoring goals. As well as the way we conceded, the timing was also frustrating.

“Queen of the South scored right on half-time recently after we had dominated the first half of that game, and all of a sudden they got the lift just before half-time.

“We’ve done that quite a few times this season, conceding right on half-time and right on full-time. It’s happened one, or two, too many times.” The winner came after left-back Rory McKeown’s long throw-in caused panic in the Ton box, and Gaston insisted they should have coped better.

He added: “Raith were always a threat from the long throws. They are a big, physical team, and that’s how the second goal came about.

“It was a long throw into the box that was knocked up in the air by [Jon] Daly, I think. I’ve come out and punched it not very far.

“It [then] comes back in and the boy [Jason] Thomson headed it and I saved, but it’s come back to him and he scrambled it in.

“I think there were a few people who could maybe have done better for the goal. Would I include myself in that? Aye, but I would need to see it again. When the throw came in and the second ball’s been knocked in the air, I’ve come out and tried to punch it away.

“I’d need to see it again to [analyse] whether I could have caught it or not, but I don’t think I’ve got enough on it to get it far enough and it has come back in.” Ton have another difficult away match on the horizon at Queen of the South on Saturday, and the 28-year-old is confident they will have gotten over the disappointment by then.

Gaston concluded: “It’s frustrating to come here, put everything into it but come away with nothing, and it’s difficult to pick yourself up from losing to a 90th-minute goal.

“But I think the boys have shown they have the mentality to do that plenty of times. So that’s not something we’re worrying about.”