Marvin Bartley expressed his frustration after his Stenhousemuir side were denied what he thought was a “clear” penalty on Tuesday night against Dunfermline Athletic.

The Warriors welcomed the Pars to Ochilview Park knowing that a victory would have taken them back to the top of the Scottish Championship table.

But they narrowly lost on the night, with Rory MacLeod scoring the winner for Neil Lennon’s side 14 minutes from time.

Bartley’s side did rally late on, and they felt that they had a great shout for a spot kick when goalkeeper Aston Oxborough came for a high ball and wiped out substitute Hamzad Kargbo, punching him in the face.

Referee Grant Irvine had a decent view of the incident, but he elected to play on.

And boss Bartley couldn’t believe that his part-timers didn’t get a shot at levelling the match. He was yellow carded for showing his frustration on the touchline.

“We were denied a clear penalty,” he said. “Hamza goes up, wins the header, Oxborough comes out and punches him in the face. He doesn’t get any contact on the ball.

"The explanation I got from the referee was that our player didn’t appeal for anything.

"The next explanation was that he wasn’t sure there was any contact.

"Then the next one was ‘your players shook my hand after the game and didn’t shout at me – so I must have got it right’.

“I am just so disappointed. It is a big, big decision. And one that the referee has to get right. But unfortunately he didn’t.”

Reviewing the match, Bartley cut his side some slack, outlining the challenge of having to play so many games in a short space of time as a part-time club.

The SPFL rearranged the Dunfermline clash for this week despite Stenny requesting a later date in the fixture schedule.

The boss added: “Dunfermline were probably the better team in the first half without creating too many chances. Second half, it was 50/50. Darren Jamieson pulls off one save and we had a few chances up the other end.

"I’m not sure whether the goal they scored took a deflection or not. It is hard to be critical of the players. It will be our third game in six days against full-time opposition come Friday. It is extremely difficult. The players are training after work – it simply isn’t fair.”

Meanwhile, Bartley reckons that player safety was endangered during last Saturday’s Scottish Championship match against Partick Thistle after the game continued despite it being clear that the Firhill pitch was completely waterlogged and unplayable.

The Warriors lost 3-0 in Glasgow against Mark Wilson’s side – but boss Bartley was clear that he said to the refereeing team that he wasn’t bothered about the result, and that he was happy for the scoreline to stand if the game was brought to a halt early.

Euan Henderson’s hat-trick had Thistle well ahead before the pitch really showed signs of being unplayable, with a number of Stenhousemuir players going on to pick up injuries that kept them out of the Warriors’ starting eleven against Dunfermline Athletic four days later.

Speaking to the Falkirk Herald, he said: “It is simple really. Everyone knew that it wasn’t a safe environment for the players to play in at that point. Both sets of players were at risk of injury.

"No-one should have been out there in those conditions, and to go on and play another 30-odd minutes is so dangerous. I don’t know what goes through a referees’ mind or what the protocol is.

"But for Calum (Scott) to be happy for game to continue just isn’t right for me.

"I know Willie (Collum) is the head of referees and I do think it will be interesting if there is a chat after the weekend about what happens going foward.

"Surely, a situation like that can never occur again? We’ve lost a couple of players due to injury as a result of playing on that surface. I doubt every one of Thistle’s players will have finished the game unscathed also.

“I think it’s clear that player safety wasn’t taken into account on Saturday."

On the performance, Bartley added: “Credit goes to Thistle for scoring the goals but you don’t want to concede three goals in any match. But we have to be realistic. You look at the home record Thistle have and where they are expected to be this season.

"We could have defended better but the players they have on the pitch make them favourites to go up. I am disappointed but the conditions also played a part.”

The boss also took umbrage at one particular shout from a supporter in the away end. He called out the fan in question directly after the match speaking to club media.

When asked about that incident, Bartley said: “It’s one of those things… it happens at a football game. A fan shouts something that they maybe don’t think through. Did I think it was said with any real intent? Probably not.

"But I have to protect my players, and sometimes it is good to just give a little bit of reminder. I am sure he is sorry for shouting what he said…

"The league table shows us sitting second in the Championship, which is an incredible achievement. It is a fairytale. I hate speaking about budgets but we are punching so far above our weight.

"Where we are right now would be like St Johnstone being clear at the top of the top flight. Teams in the division below us (Scottish League One) have a bigger budget than we do.

"A bit of perspective is needed going forward into the rest of the season.”