Motherwell ace Andy Rose: Celtic's Callum McGregor could easily have stayed on his feet in penalty incident

Motherwell midfielder Andy Rose was devastated to be on the end of another dubious refereeing decision against Celtic last night.
Motherwell players celebrate their goal, a Mikael Lustig OG, in the 1-1 draw against Celtic on Wednesday night (Pic by Ian McFadyen)Motherwell players celebrate their goal, a Mikael Lustig OG, in the 1-1 draw against Celtic on Wednesday night (Pic by Ian McFadyen)
Motherwell players celebrate their goal, a Mikael Lustig OG, in the 1-1 draw against Celtic on Wednesday night (Pic by Ian McFadyen)

Just three days after Cedric Kipre’s controversial dismissal and Celtic penalty award by referee Craig Thomson which effectively cost ’Well the Betfred Cup final at Hampden, it was fellow whistler Willie Collum’s turn to hurt the Steelmen this time.With Motherwell leading 1-0 in the 88th minute of the Scottish Premiership clash at Fir Park, Collum controversially awarded Celts a soft penalty for Rose’s innocuous looking challenge on Callum McGregor.’Well fans’ hate figure Scott Sinclair, who had gone down theatrically when Kipre was sent off three days earlier, then stepped up to earn a 1-1 draw and take Celtic’s unbeaten domestic run to 66 matches.“I really don’t think it was a penalty,” a distraught Rose told the assembled press after the match.“Clearly he (McGregor) has played for it. He’s gone down and it was really soft.“You see players going down in the box all the time and obviously it’s happened to us twice in a week now.“With four minutes to go I think it’s a massive, massive decision.“From me there was absolutely no intent to bring the player down.“He could have easily stayed on his feet, didn’t and obviously it’s cost us a massive result. When the referee blew the whistle I was shocked.“They have a tough job of course but for me it was definitely not a penalty.“I definitely don’t think we’d have got that decision at the other end.“We went through this whole process the other day so obviously at the moment it’s really frustrating.“I thought the boys were absolutely tremendous and Trevor Carson had one of the best matches I’ve ever seen from a goalkeeper. He was absolutely fantastic so to only come away with a point is tough to take.”