Celtic manager Neil Lennon blamed referee Craig Thomson for the end of his side's unbeaten Scottish Premiership run at Aberdeen.
Lennon criticised Thomson's decision to send off Virgil van Dijk in the 11th minute for denying a goalscoring chance, after he brought down Peter Pawlett as the Dons winger tried to burst into the box.
Celtic had started well but they lost 2-1 with a man down and Lennon felt his side should have had a penalty for a handball by Mark Reynolds just before James Forrest pulled a 61st-minute goal back for the champions, who had been unbeaten in their previous 26 league games this season.
Lennon said: "I thought we were worthy of the win. I thought the referee ruined the game. It's not a sending-off. Pawlett was going across the goal rather than towards the goal. I'm pretty sure Ambrose would have got across.
"And there was a clear handball in the second half. He saw it and said it wasn't deliberate."
Lennon is considering an appeal against Van Dijk's dismissal and added: "I think it's poor. Maybe I am the only one who sees it that way but I have looked at it again and I'm pretty convinced it's not a red card."
The Celtic boss admitted there was nothing his side could do to stop the 30-yard opener from Jonny Hayes, which ended Fraser Forster's 1,256-minute run without conceding a league goal, but felt his defence could have done more to stop Adam Rooney's header making it 2-0 just before the break.
But he was full of praise for his side's second-half comeback attempts.
"I thought we were the better team first half, we had the better chances anyway," he added. "I said to the players: 'You can't let the run go now. Go out there and take the game to Aberdeen as much as you can.' And they did that. I thought they were fantastic.
"It looked like we had the extra man. We dominated and didn't get the rewards all our good play and mental strength deserved. But sometimes you don't get what you deserve in football."
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes had a different opinion on the red card and felt his side were well worth their second victory over Celtic this month, having knocked Lennon's side out of the William Hill Scottish Cup at Parkhead.
McInnes said: "The fans have seen their team win and deservedly win with two magnificent goals and loads of effort from every single one of the players.
"It's not easy beating Celtic whether it's against 11 men or 10 men.
"You can see why these players play for Celtic, they never know they're beat. I thought they took full responsibility in the second half and the introduction of Forrest caused us problems.
"We were too deep and it was a bit disappointing that we never kept the ball better. When Celtic score it adds to the anxiety in the ground and belief of Celtic.
"But over the 90 minutes I thought we were the better side and created the better opportunities. It was the right decision to send Van Dijk off."
McInnes added: "We should celebrate a good night for our club because it's a big ask beating Celtic. They are proud of their unbeaten record. They have made that really clear.
"If we didn't get the credit we possibly deserved at Parkhead, I'm sure we'll get it tonight."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article