Raith Rovers: Defender Ryan Nolan strongly disputes penalty awarded to opponents Cove Rangers on Saturday

Speaking exclusively to the Fife Free Press, Irish stopper Nolan, 23, did admit handling the ball on 32 minutes after a Cove free-kick into the penalty area, with the Kirkcaldy side 1-0 up thanks to a Lewis Vaughan strike three minutes earlier.

But the former Northampton Town ace insisted that the home team should have been penalised for an infringement on him in the build-up, instead of benefitting from a spot kick which Leighton McIntosh then scored.

Nolan said: “The free-kick was played in, I went to jump and the guy behind me (Cove’s Morgyn Neill) gave me a push from behind as I was going in the air.

"As he pushed me in the air I was falling, my hand went up and the ball touched my hand.

"Obviously there’s no VAR and if the refs don’t see a push they give whatever they see. But why would I go to ground if I wasn’t pushed?

"The boys were furious that a penalty was awarded because they could see clearly that I was pushed.

"The boys in the wall obviously couldn’t see it as much but the boys that were behind me, and the keeper (Jamie MacDonald), a push was quite blatant from what they saw.

"Obviously they were going to be angry and there were one or two yellow cards shown.

"There’s a few decisions have gone against us the past few weeks but it is what it is. Obviously referees make mistakes like players and you just need to get on with it.”

Nolan stressed that Rovers had then reacted well to the disappointment of conceding to the disputed penalty, going 2-1 up before half-time thanks to Dylan Easton’s wonderful shot into the corner.

But, after looking comfortable for the remainder of the match, the Kirkcaldy men were sickened at the death when Morgyn Neill headed in after a corner was badly defended, prompting manager Ian Murray to stress that his players needed to improve their game management.

"Obviously when there’s two minutes left or whatever you just need to see the game out,” Nolan said.

“Take the ball to the corner flag or keep the ball away from your box, not giving the opposition a chance to score in the last minute.

"So I think we definitely need to get better at that, be a bit cuter. I think other teams would probably go down a bit easier, give away fouls or get throw-ins.

"That’s the difference between winning and drawing and sometimes drawing and losing, it depends on the result.

"In our dressing room after the game the feelings were a mixture of a lot of anger, a lot of disappointment.

"We felt sick because we defended well all of the second-half and we were keeping them out. They hardly had a shot at goal.

"So for us to concede from a sloppy goal in the last minute, even though it was a draw it felt like a loss for us.”