East Fife 0-1 Airdrieonians

Gary Naysmith had sympathy for Jonathan Page after his sending off.

And there really isn't any term better to describe Saturday afternoon's 90 minutes against Airdrie.

East Fife were frustrated by having the bulk of possession but being unable to cut open an impressive Diamonds defence.

They were also frustrated, as were their visitors to be fair, but a few baffling refereeing decisions.

Chasing the game at 1-0 down to an early Andy Ryan goal, East Fife's cause took a body blow when ref Gavin Ross blew for a foul by Jonathan Page on the goal scorer.

Not only did the decision look wrong, if anything the tangling of the two players looked to be a foul for East Fife, Ross decided to book Page.

Page couldn't believe the decision, and incensed by it, let Ross know exactly what he thought about it leading to a needless red card and leaving his team with ten men at a crucial stage of the game.

Frustrating.

This was a game East Fife more than deserved to take something from but just lacked that wee bit luck in the final third.

That's taking nothing away from the visitors who impressed from front to back.

Daniel Boateng gave Jamie Insall no change all afternoon while Ryan looks a player who's capable of playing at a much higher level than League One.

His goal came with barely 10 minutes on the clock when he collected a Joe Gorman flick on and beat Mark Hurst.

East Fife threw everything at Airdrie but just couldn't crack them.

Page saw his red card before Sean McIntosh was also sent off for a last man challenge on Kevin Smith.

From the free-kick Smith's effort struck the outside of the post and bounced wide.

It summed up a frustrating afternoon for the Fifers.

Naysmith said: "The refereeing was shocking.

“I’m not happy with Jonathan for answering back, that’s not acceptable and he knows that.

“But I can understand his frustrations.

“His first booking was picked up after what should have been a foul to us.

“I let myself go against Queen’s Park right at the end of the game but I’ve been teaching myself not even speak to them (the officials) because you just get more and more frustrated.”