Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Robinson furious at peno call
MOTHERWELL boss Stephen Robinson claims he would rather have suffered a Betfred Cup final thrashing by Celtic than lose with the help of a controversial penalty.
There was little between the teams until Parkhead winger James Forrest curled in the opener in the 49th minute.
But the turning point came just before the hour when ref Craig Thomson judged Cedric Kipre to have fouled Celtic winger Scott Sinclair inside the box.
It looked like contact was minimal and Sinclair had gone to ground too willingly but the Well defender was shown a red card before Moussa Dembele hammered in the spot-kick to seal a 2-0 win at Hampden Park.
Robinson could not contain his frustration afterwards.
“First and foremost I am extremely proud of the players,” said the Lisburn man.
“Congratulations to Celtic, they are a top football team, we all acknowledge that.
“But it is hard to take in that manner. I would rather have been pumped six or seven nothing by them but the game was over with that decision.
“The game was over as a contest once that decision was made.
“There is no contact and with the red card the game is effectively over. It completely changes the game.
“Craig Gordon made an unbelievable save from Louis Moult just before that and Kieran Tierney catches Louis going into the box when he was ready to finish – no penalty. It is a stonewall penalty.
“Cedric was crying, he is 20 years of age, he hasn’t touched him but I am not one of these managers who criticises other people’s players. I will keep my dignity.”