Levein laments penalty rejection

15 March 2009 13:42
The Tannadice manager chose his words carefully as he described the "frustration" of seeing the appeal turned down with the scores level 15 minutes from time.[LNB]Substitute Danny Swanson went down on the edge of the box after being heavily challenged by home midfielder Maros Klimpl - but play was waved on and the hosts broke upfield and David Clarkson scored the winning goal.[LNB]Levein said: "Stephen Craigan told me it was a penalty and I said to the referee that you've got the opposition captain saying it's a penalty, but there's nothing I can do.[LNB]"If it's not a penalty it's obstruction and it's an indirect free kick; it's one of the two.[LNB]"I thought the referee was relatively well placed and I felt we were undone not by anything that we did - we played really well, and were as good as we've been for weeks.[LNB]"We dominated for long spells and we can't do an awful lot more than we did today, but that's football sometimes; we can only try and use the frustration that we feel for our game next week."[LNB]United conceded the opening goal, scored by John Sutton in the first half, when they were temporarily down to 10 men as Garry Kenneth received stitches to a head wound.[LNB]The result means that Motherwell are now just four points behind the fourth-placed Tannadice team, and are being kept out of the top six only on goal difference.[LNB]Levein said: "It's a difficult decision whether to replace a player [in that situation] or whether to try and fill in and we got caught by that, which is unfortunate but it happens.[LNB]"My prime concern when we lose a match is having a look to see what we could have done better, but I don't think we did an awful lot wrong and the signs are that we're getting back to what we can do."[LNB]Motherwell counterpart Mark McGhee said: "This was an important result for us, getting us closer to Dundee United and with Hearts losing, it doesn't quite open it up for the third spot again but it keeps them in our sights and emphasises that had we even drawn at Tynecastle, how much better it would be looking."[LNB]Scorer Clarkson started on the bench and headed the winner less than 10 minutes after his introduction.[LNB]McGhee, the SPL's manager of the month, said: "I felt that he's tired; of all the strikers I've had since I came here, he's the one who's played in the wide areas, covered more miles than anyone else, and I just think he's starting to look a little puffed out.[LNB]"I sent him to Spain for a few days last week to recharge and I'll maybe use him off the bench for a few games to get him back to his best."[LNB]He also praised defender Brian McLean, who has recently returned from long-term injury: "He did brilliantly and we're really pleased for him.[LNB]"Brian has come through a hell of a time; he's out there trying to earn himself another contract and he's certainly going about it the right way."[LNB][LNB]

Source: Team_Talk