’Well in ‘comic’ defeat

Motherwell slumped to their second successive away defeat when they lost 1-0 to Hearts at Tynecastle, writes Graham Barnstaple.

The game was settled thanks to a first-half goal by Kyle Lafferty which boss Stephen Robinson described as ‘comical’, hinting at a couple of fouls in the build-up.

He said:“i don’t think there was anything in the game and the goal is comical to be honest.

“There’s a foul on Allan Campbell in the middle of the pitch and he gets scythed down.

“I haven’t seen it but I’m told there was a handball in it as well, Cedric Kipre slips and then Carl Mchugh slips when Kyle’s going nowhere.

“It’s frustrating to lose a goal like that. I thought we dominated large bits of it without really hurting them.

“We dominated the ball at times without our so-called ball-players stepping up to the plate and making something happen, so that’s frustrating.”

Chris Cadden and Elliott Frear hit shots straight at Jon Mclaughlin in the Hearts goal, while in 34 minutes Connor Randall picked out Lewis Moore who blasted over on the volley.

However, the goal came five minutes later when Lafferty picked the ball up on the bye-line and looked to have been closed down before Kipre and Mchugh slipping allowed him to score from a tight angle.