McHugh: I couldn't believe it when second Moult goal at Ibrox was ruled out

McHugh was perplexed when the far side linesman initially gave the goal but then flagged a few seconds later to disallow it, denying Motherwell the chance of a famous Scottish Premiership scalp.

“From where I was I couldn’t believe it was disallowed after the wait,” McHugh told the Motherwell Times just after the final whistle.

“It was about a seven or eight second wait before the goal was disallowed.

“But that’s the way the ref and the linesman have come to the decision and we have to get on with it.

“It is massively frustrating. We had a few calls for a penalty as well that we didn’t get.

“I think a few of them are stonewallers from what I hear.

“It’s very disappointing.

“I think we were the better team. We should have won the game.

“We made the better chances, could have had a few penalties and had a goal disallowed.”

So former Plymouth Argyle ace McHugh (24) couldn’t hide his dejection at the officials’ delayed decision in denying Moult his second goal of the afternoon, as Stephen Pearson was in an offside position on the goal line as the ball went in.

On a positive note for ’Well, McHugh was part of a new-look three man central defence against Rangers alongside Ben Heneghan and Stevie Hammell and the combination worked well.

“We were quite solid. A lot of that comes from the boys in front of us, the intensity with which they pressed the game.

“Obviously at times we sat in but in the main we tried to get at them and really press them and it made our job easier as a back three.”

The Ibrox point was a crucial one for Motherwell in the club’s battle to retain Scottish Premiership status for next season.

McHugh said: “You can see that everyone is pulling together and we’ve got a clear framework of what we’re doing.

“We are all working towards that and we all believe in it. And I think if we keep doing that and keep playing to that intensity and working towards the framework we have we’ll be fine.”