Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes labelled the early penalty given against his side “really harsh” after the Dons’ 3-1 win over Ross County in Dingwall.
Set-pieces from Niall McGinn and Ryan Hedges, then a curling effort from Andy Considine, cancelled out Josh Mullin’s early spot-kick – awarded after Lewis Ferguson was adjudged to have blocked the ball with his hand in the box.
The result means Aberdeen end the day third in the Premiership.
Of the penalty, McInnes told Sportsound: “There wasn’t a huge claim from the Ross County players and it was a huge surprise to me at the time.
“Like I say, I think it was the wrong decision and really harsh on us.”
The Reds manager thinks, given 2,000 members of the Dons support had travelled to Dingwall, it was important Aberdeen met their objective of three straight wins going into the international break.
He said: “That was the objective after the Celtic game (4-0 home defeat), we set that target.
“It’s easier said than done, we’ve had three challenges, but I think we’ve been pretty convincing in the three wins.
“What pleases me is we’ve scored plenty goals and created plenty of opportunities. The only disappointing thing is not managing to keep our third clean sheet in a row.
“I think that’s down to a poor refereeing decision. We’ve had penalties not given for handball much more blatant than that.
“I’m not convinced it was in the box. It was a difficult beginning for us, but if you’re going to go behind in a game you’d rather the first five minutes than the last five minutes.”