Jonny Riddell’s try was chalked off by the official, despite the Haddington back-row appearing to ground the ball correctly.
Phill Smith made his first start since returning from a stint playing in Sweden, with Alan Laidlaw dropping to the bench, while Kris Paterson returned in the back-row and Connor Munro replaced Mark Robertson on the wing.
There was also a recall for Ian Watt on the bench, while Charlie Hamilton missed out as he celebrated his stag-do.
And the visitors started the match well, but were dealt a blow when the home side opened the scoring as Andrew Goodall crashed over from a well-worked rolling maul. West led 5-0, but Gareth Pritchard reduced the arrears with a well-taken penalty.
And the South African stand-off, an ever-present in the side since his arrival at Neilson Park, kicked Haddington into the lead with a second penalty.
That lead was short-lived, though, as West used their driving lineout to score a second try. They tied in the Haddington defence before the ball was worked to Sandy McCallum and the centre barrelled his way over out wide.
The gap was only four points at the break, but the Reds fell further behind early in the second half. Blair Smith kicked a penalty to put West 13-6 ahead, before the controversial no-try decision.
Riddell had broken through the West defence and when the former North Berwick man went to ground the ball, the referee judged he had knocked on, and disallowed the try.
To make matters worse for the travelling Reds, winger Kyle Adams was then sent to the sin-bin for the visitors.
Rhodri Thomas’ side held out well during Adams’ time off the pitch, but fell further behind thanks to another penalty, 16-6, making it a 10-point game.
The power of the Haddington pack was evident throughout, and that power helped them to their only try of the day, with a solid scrum allowing Kyle McGarvie over for his third try of the season.
Pritchard missed the conversion, and Haddington were left ruing chances to win the game.
Head coach Rhodri Thomas admitted the squad were frustrated not to have won.
Post-match, he said: “The players put in an excellent performance and are frustrated.
"We created several opportunities that we were unable to capitalise on and on many occasions showed our attacking threat.
"We're sitting in fourth place at the half-way point in the league season and feel confident that we can continue to challenge the teams at the top of the table as the season progresses.”

Haddington: James Ferguson, Kyle Adams, Kyle Hamilton, Liam Clutton, Connor Munro, Gareth Pritchard, Jack Hamilton; Garry Cockburn, Colin Stuart CAPTAIN, Phill Smith, Ben Laing, Harry Hamilton, Jonny Riddell, Kris Paterson, Mark Renton
Replacements: Kyle Munro, Alan Laidlaw, Kyle McGarvie and Ian Watt