Motherwell red card vs Celtic branded incorrect as boss reveals ref conversation over 'harsh' sending off
Motherwell suffered defeat at the hands of Celtic on Sunday.
Stuart Kettlewell says he has been left miffed after a red card to Liam Gordon during Motherwell’s 3-0 defeat to Celtic.
The Steelmen hit the woodwork twice inside 10 minutes through Lennon Miller but Celtic soon took control of proceedings. Luke McCowan netted in the first half before Alistair Johnston and Adam Idah netted after half-time to seal a comfortable win for the champions, as Motherwell sit fifth with the Hoops sitting in first place.
A blow for Motherwell in the dying embers was a Gordon red card for serious foul play, with an away league game with Dundee United midweek before next Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final against Rangers at Hampden. His suspension carries over two league games, making him eligible for the Rangers clash.
Speaking post-match, Kettlewell said he was of the thinking that the original yellow card awarded by referee David Dickinson was correct. He said: “We’ll all have a view on it. I feel it’s so harsh to give the red card. At the time, the referee has a look at it and can see that Liam has made contact with the Celtic attacker.
“The first thing you see on the screen is still images. It looks as bad, of course, we all say that sometimes it looks bad. I spoke to the referee after the match in a really calm fashion to ask what he seen in the challenge.
“He spoke about hinging the Celtic player’s ankle but my counter-argument to that is you are talking about the Motherwell defender in Liam Gordon at full stretch at that point not really with any force whatsoever and just trying to get a toe end on the ball. I acknowledge he doesn’t get that toe end on the ball that I thought he did at the time but I don’t think he comes in with any reckless intent.
“I don’t think he is trying to injure the Celtic player. I think the referee got it right when he awards Celtic the foul and the yellow card. If that was a tackle on one of my players, am I screaming for a red card? Absolutely not.”
Kettlewell added on the game: “At the end, real disappointment with the end result and outcome. But we put a demand on the players to show more than we got last week (vs Dundee). I feel we started the game incredibly well and the first quarter of the game we were excellent.
“I felt in general in the first half we limited Celtic to very little. Celtic get the goal which I thought was a bit fortuitous, there’s a bit of a ricochet and I know you make your own luck but there was a little bit of a ricochet for McCowan to wriggle through and he finishes well.
“Up to the point of the Celtic second goal, you feel you are well in a game of football. The second is a killer blow and is tough to take, I feel we can do a bit better, we know their quality. Then you start throwing caution to the wind. The type of quality they have to pick you off, we have got to do it methodically and the second goal takes it away from that aspect of the game.”