Stephen Robinson: Motherwell manager praises his troops for win at Hamilton Accies

Robbo had criticised several players’ performances in their 2-0 Betfred Cup reverse against Hearts the previous week, but he was full of admiration for how they put Accies to the sword, with goalscorers Peter Hartley, Liam Donnelly and Chris Long among those getting a special mention.

Robbo said: “That’s two in two for Longy. Longy’s a very good footballer.

“If we get him believing that, get Sherwin Seedorf believing that and Jermaine Hylton believing that then we’ve got three good players.

“But there’s a reason they’re at Motherwell.

“There’s a reason that they’ve come from divisions where they weren’t playing or they weren’t regular and we get them back up again.

“As I said after the Hearts game, we’re not the worst team in the world after getting beat by Hearts.

“We’re certainly not the best team in the world after beating Accies.

“What we’re doing is progressing and there were some very, very good performances.

“I thought Liam Grimshaw was excellent.

“I thought the two centre halves, Peter Hartley and Deccy (Gallagher) and Liam Donnelly in midfield.

“All our success was built on being solid, not conceding goals.

“I think I’m right in saying Accies only had one shot on target.

“So that shows how dominant we were at the back.

“And we’ve got that creative spark, scoring in every game bat the Livi game.

“So we just have to make sure that we get the fine balance right.”

The Accies game saw Motherwell concede a penalty goal against the run of play after Hartley was harshly adjusged to have handled the ball in the penalty area.

The decision by referee Andrew Dallas was made in the wake of a recent rule change meaning penalties are awarded for all handball offences in the box.

Robbo said: “I feel sorry for the referees, honestly I do.

“The people that make these rules, the drop balls, the handball.

“I mean how many penalties are there going to be this season?

“The one against Hearts was a penalty in the laws of the game now.

“But how many is there going to be?

“It’s just making life even harder for referees if I’m honest.

“The bounce ball one as well – I’m baffled.

“I feel for them, I really do.

“I don’t know why we have to continue to mess with the game.”

Robbo finished by saying that he would have “a hard decision” to make picking a team for this Saturday’s game against Hibs as Richard Tait and Jake Carroll will be back in contention again after illness.

Meanwhile, it was revealed earlier today (Monday) that the transfer of Motherwell kid Stuart McKinstry to Leeds United has been completed.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side agreed a compensation package that will see Motherwell receive a guaranteed fee with the opportunity to earn further, should he progress and/or Leeds sell him in the future.