Lewis Ferguson claimed refereeing decisions were “killing” Aberdeen as he reflected on their controversial defeat by Celtic.

Ferguson headed home the equaliser as Aberdeen came from two goals down at Pittodrie on Wednesday but Celtic went straight up the pitch to net the winner through Jota.

The Dons felt Liel Abada was offside when Anthony Ralston headed the ball into Jota’s path and that the Israeli winger impeded David Bates, but the goal was given and Celtic went on to win 3-2.

The Dons have now taken just two points from five games and slipped to ninth place in the cinch Premiership.

“We were excellent in the second half and deserved a point,” Ferguson said.

“To get done by a goal like that, where it looks as if he is offside and there is a foul on Bates, it’s harsh on the boys.

“It was the same at the weekend when we were done by a refereeing decision and it is killing us at the minute.

“When you are not on a good run these sort of things don’t go your way.

“Celtic are on a good run and it goes their way. That’s just the way it works.

“It’s disappointing to get done by a decision that is out of our control.”

Ferguson also thought he should have had a penalty when Matt O’Riley jumped into him at a high ball.

“I felt as if the boy wasn’t really looking at the ball or making an attempt to play the ball,” the former Hamilton midfielder said. “I think he was just trying to put his body into me.

“I think if it’s anywhere else on the park it is probably a foul. In the penalty area it’s not a foul – it’s one of those ones.”

The Dons now bid to kick-start their campaign with a Scottish Cup win at Motherwell on Saturday.

“It’s massive,” Ferguson said. “We set our aims at the start of the season and cup runs are big for this club.

“Hopefully we go put on a wining performance to get into the next round.

“There were a lot of positives in that second-half performance. We got two goals and were really aggressive.

“It was much, much better and we have to take that performance into the weekend and start the game like that.”