Amid the flurry of complaints over refereeing decisions and VAR calls over the past couple of weeks, Motherwell’s gripe over Celtic’s second goal in their 2-1 win at Fir Park during the week is perhaps the most unusual.
The hosts were angered after left-back Matt Penney’s attempted throw-in was diverted to Celtic via the head of their winger Sead Haksabanovic, who appeared to be off the field of play and was standing at close range.
Even if Haksabanovic had been on the pitch, IFAB rules state in Law 15 that ‘All opponents must stand at least 2m (2 yds) from the point on the touchline where the throw-in is to be taken,’ leading Motherwell manager Steven Hammell to argue that the officiating team should have taken a look at the incident after Daizen Maeda had subsequently hared away to score Celtic’s clinching goal.
Ross Tierney, who immediately pulled a goal back for Motherwell, was similarly perplexed by the lack of action from referee Willie Collum, with that strike ultimately rendering his own goal as a mere consolation.
“I think we were all angry at it to be fair,” Tierney said.
“I think the player was off the pitch when he stops the ball. If he’s off the pitch, you’ve got to bring it back.
“Obviously, VAR didn’t see it well.”
What is clear for everyone to see is that this Motherwell team rapidly need to put some points on the board to go along with some very creditable performances under rookie manager Hammell, with injuries also hampering the efforts of the Fir Park legend in hauling his team up the league.
“One of the lads said we are only six points off third, which means we can’t get down,” said Tierney.
“If we win on Saturday [at St Johnstone], we go into the break on a high and can come back with a good run of results.
“The past month or six weeks has been a tough run of games. We’ve seen the downside of that with points, but we know the performances have been there and we just need to start picking up points.
“Every game apart from the cup game, we have been really well in it. Again against Celtic, it was disappointing that our second-half performance was decent and we didn’t get a result.
“I think they were a bit under pressure near the end after our goal and we were obviously disappointed. But we know if we bring the work-rate and the quality on Saturday, we can get a result.
“We have just got to keep positive. Celtic are top of the league for a reason and they were in Europe and we know we put it right to them.
“We’ve quite a small squad in regards to other teams in the league, but we know we have great players to come off the bench. We just have to stick together and, hopefully, come back from the break with a full squad.”
On a personal level, Tierney is hoping that his counter against Celtic can spark not only a goalscoring run, but a run in the starting XI for the Steelmen.
The young Irishman found some fame recently when a spectacular strike of his in training for his nation’s under-21 side went viral, and he is hoping to reproduce those sort of efforts now in the claret and amber.
“We’ve made a few chances this year and I’ve been struggling for goals, but even in training, the lads have been getting onto me that if I can do it for Ireland I can do it for Motherwell,” he said.
“Hopefully, I can kick on and get a few more goals.
“To be honest, I thought [my goal against Celtic] was offside when it first came over my shoulder. I just thought to get good connection as I was quite close to the goal and, thankfully, I did.”
