Hughes was disappointed to see his side lose at Love Street

Falkirk manager John Hughes has criticised the SFA for putting "rookie" referee Scott MacDonald in charge of his side's 1-0 defeat at St Mirren.

Hughes was unhappy with the red card shown to Falkirk's Arnau Reira and believes his side are being used as a guinea pig for inexperienced officials.

He said: "I think we're being used as a learning tool for rookie referees.

"If you're good enough to referee in the SPL, you should be good enough to referee any game in the SPL."

Hughes conceded that St Mirren deserved to win the game but felt that Reira's dismissal changed the course of the match, with Andy Dorman scoring a late winner for the Love Street side.

"I don't think we would've lost the game if Reira had stayed on the pitch," said the Falkirk boss.

"We were in a period of the game where we were dominating possession and I felt the goal was coming.

"It was just a bouncing ball and two of them went for a header and he's felt that it was a straight red. It's really disappointing."

And Hughes says the Bairns will make an official complaint about the handling of the game.

He added: "We've already written a letter asking why because it happened to us last year as well."