ABERDOUR coach Lisa Norman was bitterly disappointed by controversial refereeing decisions that ended their title hopes on Saturday.

The Silver Sands outfit lost 1-0 at South Division One leaders Ballachulish to make it mathematically impossible for them to finish top, trailing by seven points with just four to play for in the final two games game of the season.

Despite enjoying the better of the contest for long spells, 'Dour were aggrieved in the first half when home keeper David MacPhee conceded a penalty they felt should have resulted in a red card. But the Ballachulish stopper stayed on and Aberdour missed their chance from the spot, which came back to haunt them as they fell behind to what proved to be the winning goal in 73 minutes.

MacPhee was then sent off for an off-the-ball, waist-high challenge but Aberdour could not find the equaliser.

Norman told Press Sport, "They made a strange substitution. In shinty, to make a sub the game has to be stopped, out for a shy or a goal hit, so everyone knows what's going on. But somehow they took a forward off, someone appeared in midfield and as a direct result, scored a goal. To be fair to the referee he refereed it as well as he could and perhaps didn't see it but to lose to a goal in the way that we did was unjust.

"After that we should've equalised and their keeper made some good saves. We played really well and deserved a point if not a win. It was disappointing but the important thing for me was that the guys played well, kept their discipline and played right to the end. They have continued to improve throughout the season and we'll look to try and finish third now."

'Dour host Taynuilt this Saturday and Norman added, "It is a game that we should be looking to win at home, and Oban Celtic have sneaked up behind us so we need to make sure that we win."

Throw-up at Silver Sands is at 1pm.