Jarred Gillett awarded Brisbane a controversial injury-time spotkick which Berisha converted to decide the contest.

Berisha had gone down inside the box with Liam Miller sliding in close to him, and Ferguson said it wasn't a penalty.

“To me it was an airswing. He loses his balance and goes down and then they get a penalty,” Ferguson told Fox Sports.

The Scot admitted he was heartbroken by the defeat after Perth had led following Ivan Franjic's 52nd-minute own goal. Berisha levelled on 85 minutes with a fine header from a Thomas Broich cross before his late winner.

“It's never easy,” Ferguson continued. “We were 10 minutes away from actually winning the game and then they get the goal and the penalty kick towards the end and it absolutely kills us. No way back.”

On Brisbane's first goal, Ferguson added: “We were 10 minutes away from it. We'd not stopped the cross and Berisha gets in front of pantelidis and puts it away, it's a good ball and berisha attacked the ball well.

“But I thought we stopped them from playing, got the goal, put us 1-0 up. We were pretty happy but with 10 minutes to go we threw it away.”

He continued: “Obviously I'm very disappointed but very proud of the players. I thought the fans were absolutely magnificent today, travelling from Perth and all over.”

Ferguson also had special praise for his players after the club's best ever A-League season.

“It's been an outstanding achievement. I thought the boys have been fantastic this year,” he said.

“They've given us everything. A lot of people had written them off. It wasn't easybeats as people thought today. We were expected to roll up today and get beaten three or four nil, but I thought the boys put in a fantastic performance and I'm very proud to be one of them.”