Source: Team_Talk
Brown disappointed by Hibs reverse
Craig Brown blamed Motherwell's loss to Hibs on his side not taking advantage of their superiority - but also had choice words for the referee.[LNB] Motherwell manager Brown felt goalkeeper Darren Randolph was impeded by Sol Bamba before Paul Hanlon bundled the ball over the line with the help of his arm to put Hibs 2-1 ahead in the 64th minute.[LNB]Motherwell soon had a strong penalty claim turned down by referee Craig Thomson when Chris Hogg bundled over John Sutton and Hibs went up the park to double their lead through Liam Miller.[LNB]Thomson did give the hosts a penalty when Colin Nish pulled substitute Nick Blackman's shirt but, after Jamie Murphy had slotted the spot-kick home, Keith Lasley unsuccessfully claimed for handball when Bamba charged down his cross.[LNB]Brown was reluctant to criticise Thomson after his side lost an early lead earned by John Sutton's deft flick by shipping a goal to Anthony Stokes at the end of a dominant first half of Scottish Premier League action.[LNB]Brown said: "I think the penalty we got was the least obvious of three good penalty claims.[LNB]"But I think Craig Thomson is a good referee so I don't want to criticise him. We have to fault ourselves for not finishing the job.[LNB]"We had the chances in the first half to be in an unassailable lead, if in a Motherwell-Hibs game any lead is unassailable.[LNB]"We fault ourselves for not taking those chances and give credit to Hibs, they battled their way back."[LNB]Nevertheless, Brown clearly felt his side were the victim of several injustices after claiming the second goal was harsh on Randolph.[LNB]"Without question, he is going to be an asset here," Brown said of the summer signing from Charlton.[LNB]"I don't want him to have to make saves but he did make them and he made them very well.[LNB]"I'm quite sure he would have saved the second one across the face of goal but Bamba's arm was locked around his arm. But I hate to just blame decisions.[LNB]"The game should have been out of sight and then we didn't get a break in terms of decisions. We got one penalty but there was one after it and one before it.[LNB]"I said to my colleague Archie (Knox) 'Aberdeen got three in the one game'. But, as a rule, you don't get three penalties."[LNB]Hibs manager John Hughes felt his side were worthy winners and described Motherwell's penalty as "soft".[LNB]He added: "For the first 25 minutes Motherwell were the better team. I felt we were the better team in the second half. I've seen us play better football but it was a case of doing what we had to do to win the football match.[LNB]"I felt we were good for a further two or three goals, their keeper has made a few great saves."[LNB]Hibs were generally comfortable in the latter stages as they banished memories of their four-goal collapse during May's 6-6 draw at Fir Park.[LNB]"We got the substitutions right," Hughes said. "Big David Stephens went on and gave us a physical presence because at that point it was high balls coming into our box.[LNB]"We just shut the door and on the counter-attack we could have been a bit better."
