CRUNCHED by a shocking late tackle, cheated by a dive and snubbed by the ref, Andy Geggan endured a nightmare against Falkirk.

The Pars skipper can't believe referee Gavin Duncan gave a penalty when Myles Hippolyte threw himself over Sean Murdoch's arm.

It proved a game changer with the Bairns going on to beat the Pars 10 men and Geggan agreed that retrospective action should be taken against cheats, comparing the recent incident with Ross County's Alex Schalk dive to win a penalty against Celtic.

He said: "When you see it back, it's a shocker. It's like that one last week with Celtic, that was a shocker too.

"I don't know how you go about it but something needs to be done, especially with something like that today."

Geggan continued: "That penalty changed the game. I don't know how he's conned the ref into giving him it. I've watched it back and you clearly see Sean's hand coming round and he's flicked the ball away from him.

"I don't know if he's trying to get away from him or he's just rolled over him. Where the ref's standing and the linesman's standing, I don't know how one of them can't see it."

Aaron Muirhead's spot kick levelled the match after Nicky Clark scored for Dunfermline, and following Lewis Martin's red card, Nathan Austin headed the Bairns winner.

To rub salt into the wounds, Geggan said that Hippolyte sub admitted the spot kick shouldn't have been awarded.

He said: "We were speaking throughout the game and he did say it wasn't a penalty, although he also said it wasn't a sending off.

"I'm not sure about that. Big Lewis did say caught (John) Baird and he was the last man."

Geggan tried to speak to the ref and waited for the official after the game.

He said: "I was trying to speak to him when he went off but he just said no 'I'll speak to you in there' but as soon as you get there he's running into his wee hole so you can't find him!

"At the time he just said 'It's a penalty, get away from me' but the way we've reacted just shows you, it's not a penalty.

"It's a funny game. I thought we were on top and something like that just changes it."

The only slice of luck that came Geggan's way was that he wasn't seriously injured after a shocking tackle from ex-Par Mark Kerr, who was only booked.

The Athletic skipper said: "I think the ref had a bad game all day.

"There was one tackle on me in the first half that could have ended up a lot worse and I think if our players reacted in the way their players did, he would have got sent off."