MORTON gaffer Gus MacPherson has blasted man in the middle Steven Kirkland after his side's defeat to Raith Rovers.

The whistler denied his side what appeared to be a stonewall foul midway through the second half when Gozie Ugwu was chopped down by Frankie Musonda on the edge of the area.

Kirkland waved play on which saw MacPherson booked for his touchline protests and the Ton manager believes that big calls went against his side in the tight affair at Stark's Park.

The Ton manager admits that it is frustrating that his side came away from Fife with nothing after putting so much into the game.

He told the Tele: “It was a very competitive game over the piece.

“It was frustrating in parts because we had what was at the least a stonewall free-kick denied by the referee.

"I don’t know whether it was a penalty or not, but it’s a stonewall free-kick at least and we get nothing out of it.

“The explanation that I got was that there wasn't enough contact, but it doesn’t matter how much contact there is, if there’s contact it’s a foul.

“We had a fantastic start. We looked threatening and then Raith Rovers had a lot of the ball, but they never really troubled us for the opening 25 minutes.

“We looked threatening on the break, our two strikers were causing their defence problems but I really don’t think that there was a lot of difference between the two sides.

“In terms of Raith’s second goal, some of the boys are saying that it's offside some aren't, and I've not been able to see it from our angle. But things just haven't gone for us.

“We then go down to 10 men and you’re hanging on a little bit from there but it is just very frustrating that you can go and be so competitive against a very good Raith Rovers team and then come away with nothing.

“They’re a good team and they’re very competent in the way that they go about their business, but we more than matched them in every department.

“When the goalkeeper was called into action he made a couple of fantastic saves, but he wasn’t overworked.”

While MacPherson was pleased with his side's overall performance, he says that they could have been more ruthless in front of goal.

The Morton boss believes the close encounter showed the competitive nature of the Championship.

He said: “We could probably have done better on a few occasions and got a shot away earlier, but to have come up here and to have competed so well with a team like Raith, it really is a credit to the players especially with 10 men.

“We all know how competitive the league is, we can all see that with how the league is shaping up just now.

“I listened to John McGlynn’s interview the other week and he was happy to have gotten a point down at Queen of the South because it’s a difficult game.

“Every game, whether it’s home or away, is extremely tough and it’s just the fine lines that are the difference between the two sides.”