Frustrated Motherwell reacts to wrongly disallowed goal vs Rangers as club suffer key injury blow
Motherwell had the goal against Rangers wrongly ruled out, it has been declared.
Stephen Frail insists Motherwell can’t afford to dwell on a disallowed goal against Rangers - as Lennon Miller is hit with an injury blow.
A Jack Butland own goal was ruled out for a foul on the Ibrox goalkeeper but the Key Match Incident Panel has deemed it should have stood. The Premiership match finished 2-2 and the incident happened when Motherwell were 2-1 up in the clash.
Frail said: “Of course it's frustrating, no more frustrating at the time, because you think that's a massive turning point in the game to go 3-1 up. But the decision's been made, the KM has come out with their findings of it. It doesn't really do us any favours now.
“I think the good thing is for us, we're 2-0 up and playing really, really well against a Rangers team who are fighting to try and get every point. They obviously peg us back, and then from about 60 odd minutes, plus injury time, against a team who have got a wee bit of momentum, the players dug in and showed great character and created a few chances as well. So we're really just pleased with the performance and the points.
“Everything else is background noise for us. We're just concentrating on the next game, to be honest. You can't influence the referees' decisions or change referees' decisions, so that's always been the case in football. It's maybe a wee bit more highlighted now when you look at all the other VAR interventions and the KMI and there's a lot more scrutiny around it.
“The players just got on with it. We make sure as a coaching staff that the players stay focused to what they're doing in the games, not to get embroiled or involved in any of the off-field stuff that's going on. I'm sure the club will deal with whatever needs to be done, but as I say, we're really disappointed with the decision.
“It would have been a massive turning point in the game, but the other side, the positive side, we're just really pleased with the performance and hopefully it would have been three points, but unfortunately it was only one.”
Tony Watt was the Motherwell striker deemed to have fouled Butland. He added: “I think the most frustrating part is, we've probably been on the wrong side of a few now. I think we've got a system in place, we've had that, it's foolproof. I think 99% of the time you should get the right results.
“And I think there's probably too many every week now that there's wrong. I spoke with Willie Collum at the start of the season and he was brilliant. He said everything that was right. He's been open, he's been honest, he's been clear. But I think it's the decisions getting made aren't good enough. I said to Kevin Clancy during the game, I felt that he should have been sent to the screen because how long the check took.
“I knew there was no contact. I had my arm up at Butland’s ear. When he's ready to punch it, it looks as if there's a touch, but you can see that now that there's not. The wind obviously plays a big part in it. He's one of the best referees in the country. And I said to him, how long it takes to check that. Obviously, there's a maybe yes, maybe no and he didn't get a chance to correct it. Whoever seen it in VAR didn't do it. But that's life, obviously. We're not going to start crying about it. We've got a game on Thursday.”
Meanwhile, stand-in captain Miller went off in the game with a foot injury, with goalscorer Apostolos Stamatelopoulos also limping off. Ahead of facing Hearts in the league on January 2nd, the latter is to be assessed, but midfielder Miller could face time on the treatment table after making a challenge in the game against Rangers.
Frail said: “Apostolos, just a strain. He'll be assessed. We've got a little bit of a virus in the club as well. There's three or four players struggling with that and won't be in Tuesday morning. Lennon is, unfortunately, probably a little bit more than just being assessed.
“He will see a specialist. He left here on Sunday in one of those protected boots, so he will be assessed by a specialist over the next couple of days. We've got Jack Vale back from his injury at Blackburn. He's trained for two weeks down there with their under-21s for one week and then the second week with their first team, so Jack's ready to go.
“We've got players like Tom Sparrow, Sam Nicholson, Davor and, as I say, Jack Vale coming back. We've got players there who can go in and step in and hopefully make as much of an impact as Lennon. It's the way he's landed and banged his foot. So, as I say, he'll see a specialist in the next couple of days to assess the full extent of his injury. It's a blow for us because, as I say, he's such a talent and he's been a terrific player for us. Hopefully, he'll be back with us very, very soon.”