Scottish Daily Mail

Hartley fury adds to Moult’s misery

- EUAN McARTHUR at Dens Park

MOTHERWELL’S Louis Moult had the finger of suspicion pointed in his direction in the wake of this win for Dundee. Moult’s challenge on Greg Stewart midway through the first half brought some strong words from Dens Park manager Paul Hartley. Injured Stewart had to be replaced after Moult caught him late and Hartley feels the striker has become a marked man in need of protection from referees. The hosts, who eventually triumphed through second-half goals from Rory Loy and Kevin Holt’s free-kick, before Stephen Pearson hit a late consolatio­n, had to do without their talisman striker for a large chunk of this encounter. It made their victory all the more impressive. But Englishman Moult was quick to protest his own innocence on this particular occasion. ‘I’ve definitely caught him but there’s no intent,’ he said. ‘I’ve seen the ball and tried to nick it. ‘That happens in football but I didn’t mean to catch him. ‘He’s a good player and we’re all aware of that. If I’m being honest, I didn’t know it was him that I tackled. ‘I thought the ball was there to win. But he was a little bit quicker than me.’ Even without the services of Stewart, Motherwell still could not halt Dundee despite the lift from their previous weekend’s win over Partick Thistle under the guidance of caretaker manager Stephen Craigan. Neither was there much light shed on matters from Craigan, who was somewhat non-committal afterwards as to whether he would be applying for the job on a permanent basis. Moult knows a swift appointmen­t would help the Steelmen most in their current predicamen­t. He said: ‘We need things clarified so we can concentrat­e on our jobs. ‘Stephen has been fantastic since I’ve been here. ‘If he wants it, I believe in him.’ Dundee striker Loy, meanwhile, is showing precisely why Hartley brought him from Falkirk by bagging three goals in back-toback Dens Park appearance­s. ‘I’ve missed a few games through injury,’ said Loy. ‘But I’ve scored a few now and if you look to get into the right areas, then goals will flow.’

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