ALEX Rae criticised his St Mirren players for failing to follow instructions in their defeat to Dumbarton.

The Buddies boss watched his side squander their early one-goal lead to lose 2-1 at The Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium as Dumbarton clinched their Championship safety and vented his frustration with their defending in the second half.

He said: "I'm just pleased that the game is over and done with. It is a game that we had total control of in the first half.

"We could have been two or three up before they got the deflection to get the goal themselves.

“In the second half we told the players to show (Tom) Walsh down the line and they allow him to come inside and they get the goal from it.

“You can only tell players so many times the information you want to deliver. It is just disappointing because we wanted to kick on.”

Rae also expressed his anger at referee Kevin Graham for his refusal to do anything about what he perceived to be excessive time-wasting and gamesmanship from the hosts.

The travelling support directed most of their jeers at goalkeeper Jamie Ewings for a series of drawn out goal-kicks which clearly irked their manager.

Rae is now looking forward to taking a break from the trials and tribulations of the technical area after St Mirren's final fixture of the season at home to Rangers on Sunday.

“The amount of time-wasting was embarrassing for me but unfortunately the official doesn't see it,” he said.

“I'm pleased we've only got one more week to go of this kind of stuff week in, week out.”