Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has continued his trend of questioning refereeing decisions post-match against Celtic, this time planting seeds of doubt regarding referee Ross Hardie’s decision to award a penalty for Celtic just before halftime after a foul by Motherwell goalkeeper Aston Oxborough.
With Celtic denied a penalty for a high boot on Daizen Maeda in the penalty box earlier in the first half, Kettlewell chose to ignore that incident and focus on what he believes was a soft penalty for the Hoops.
He said: (Sky Sports), “Celtic are obviously awarded a penalty. At the time, on first viewing, I felt it was really, really soft.
“I’ll maybe see another couple of angles of it, but I certainly didn’t feel there was enough contact to warrant the way the Celtic player went down.
“But listen, I’ll look back on it, have another look at it now. That was just from live time, and it’s a big moment for them on the stroke of halftime.”
The Motherwell boss continues to look to blame refereeing decisions instead of criticising his own side’s poor defending in the game, which included a goal from a penalty and a corner for Celtic.
The Well were certainly more than fortunate not to have had not only more goals conceded in the game but also more penalties conceded in what was a poor afternoon for Kettlewell’s side at Celtic Park, with the Hoops well worth the 4-0 win, if not more, with a sensational second-half display.
