Vincenzo Italiano felt ‘frustrated, angry and hurt’ by the defeat to Lazio with the last kick of the game, but refused to let Fiorentina off the hook with the penalty incident.
The Viola knew that a victory here would send them clear into fourth place, leapfrogging both Napoli and Atalanta.
They had the better of the first half, as Lucas Beltran had a goal disallowed for handball and hit the woodwork, but after the break Lazio hit back and forced a series of saves from Pietro Terracciano.
With the last move of the game, Matias Vecino’s header struck the arm of Nikola Milenkovic from point-blank range and the referee immediately pointed to the spot.
The defender’s arm was raised, but the ball struck him right at the top of the arm, mere inches from the ‘safe’ area of the shoulder.
“Naturally, defeat is frustrating because Fiorentina put in a great performance, allowed Lazio very little and it was pretty much the game we wanted to see. Losing like that is not right,” Italiano told Sky Sport Italia.
“We know these situations, we work on them and must be far more concentrated in the final minutes. We had played with such sacrifice and quality, it’s a real pity to leave here empty-handed.”
That Vecino header was the last kick of the game and it is not the first time that Fiorentina have been caught napping in stoppages.
“When Serie A games are still on 0-0 and the referee has not yet blown the whistle, you can still lose. I explain to the lads every day that when the board goes up showing injury time, that is the worst moment of the match. And we lost during that moment, because we were not attentive enough on a cross that we knew Lazio liked to do.”
Jonathan Ikone had appeals for a penalty in the first half and Milenkovic was furious at the spot-kick, but Italiano gave them both short shrift.
“Johnny had a lot of opportunities to hurt them today, so he cannot complain. We cannot come here and create this many scoring opportunities and not convert any of them, that makes me angry.
“Milenkovic stuck out an arm to ‘feel’ his opponent and should’ve done it earlier, so he paid for that error. Unfortunately, it is another defeat after Empoli and we could’ve done far more in both those games. It hurts me and I hope it hurts my players to lose in these circumstances after playing so well.
“We had situations to win, like Maxime Lopez who didn’t put enough belief into the finish when he won the ball back. I really feel disappointed, we have no more room to make mistakes now and it irritates me to be in that situation.
“We are not scoring anywhere near as many goals as we ought to with our chances, it keeps games in the balance and then anything can happen. What I am glad to see was that Fiorentina came here to play our game and fight for the points, that is something we need to build on.”