Paul Hartley hailed the efforts of his Cove Rangers players as they battled with nine men in a 3-0 defeat to Dundee.
Both Blair Yule and Jamie Masson were sent off for the visitors at Dens Park, with a degree of dubiety around both dismissals from referee Graham Napier.
Paul McGowan had put Dundee in front after five minutes, before Yule’s red card just before the break for bringing down Max Anderson in the box. Charlie Adam missed the resulting penalty.
Masson was then sent off 10 minutes after the interval for catching Jordan Marshall as he closed him down, giving Cove an uphill task to get back into the game.
Danny Mullen and Adam – converting another penalty – padded the scoreline in the closing stages to seal the points.
Hartley said: “It was strange. The sending offs are a little bit harsh. Blair’s was a soft shoulder – very rarely do you see that given as a penalty against you. But the players never gave up, we were still right in the game at 1-0 with 15 minutes to go.
“(Jamie) Masson is not a dirty player. He goes in for the ball, turns his foot and it’s maybe more the reaction than anything else. He brings a yellow out and changes it to a red. We’re disappointed to lose two players tonight, but sometimes you go through games in your life where you’re down to nine men playing against 11.
“The scoreline maybe looks bad, but our players kept going right to the end.”
Dundee took the lead early on – Declan McDaid’s cross from the right reaching McGowan and with the latter allowed to check back on to his right foot he picked out the top corner.
McDaid was proving to be Dundee’s best outlet and was getting the better of his duel with Adam Livingstone. His finishing, however, deserted him when Mullen’s blocked shot broke to him.
Cove clicked into gear in the final 10 minutes of the half, with some tidy build-up involving Seb Ross and Masson teeing up Mitch Megginson. His low drive was repelled by Jack Hamilton.
But their route back into the game was dealt a severe blow four minutes before the break, with Yule dismissed for nudging Anderson to the turf. Yule was deemed to be the last man by Napier and a spot-kick was given too, with Adam handing Cove somewhat of a reprieve by striking the base of the post with his effort.
Cove brought on Ross Graham at half-time for Jamie Semple, but their cause was worsened by Napier sending off Masson before the hour.
While Masson’s challenge on Marshall was slightly late, Napier’s intensity to get over to the Cove man suggested something worse was coming. Sure enough, despite having a yellow in hand, Napier changed his mind and sent Masson off.
Megginson took a couple of hefty challenges that Napier seemed unmoved by and had the skipper found the net from a bizarre indirect free-kick inside the box, it would have been a superb salvage job.
As it was, Mullen squeezed a shot inside the near post with five minutes to go and a second penalty of the game, given for a foul by Graham on Mullen, was converted by Adam to finally vanquish Cove.
Hartley added: “I thought with even nine men our shape was good. The players never gave up and all credit to them.
“It was a difficult game for them tonight and they put a lot of effort into it.”