Smith refuses to comment on penalty

13 September 2009 11:45
But Smith admits the Scottish champions did not do enough to earn maximum points from the clash at Fir Park regardless of the late drama, which saw Allan McGregor save from Jim O'Brien's penalty after Bougherra was sent off for complaining about the decision. Bougherra was fuming when judged to have fouled Lukas Jutkiewicz in the box but went to referee Dougie McDonald's room after the game to apologise for his behaviour after being cautioned twice for dissent. However, Smith was reluctant to comment, with doubt remaining over whether the penalty should have been awarded in the first place. He said: "I haven't had the opportunity to see it again, although there seems to be an element of doubt over whether any contact was made. If there was no contact made then we would have a problem. "When Madjid put his foot in to attempt to tackle, I think the referee would be right to consider he has made contact, although there seems to be an element of doubt over that aspect of it. "The referee was well positioned but I haven't had an opportunity to see it. If he didn't make any contact with the player then I can understand his frustration, especially at that time in the game. "Although I wouldn't condone his reaction to it, I certainly could understand it if that was the case." Smith added: "I was a bit disappointed by how we played overall. It took us a long time to get started in the game and it wasn't until after our substitutions that we managed to apply the amount of pressure we had hoped for. "In fairness, I felt Motherwell played well and set their stall out well. We were just a bit off the pace of the game for the majority of the match. "Although we created one or two opportunities, overall, I don't think we deserved any better than what we got." McGregor came to the rescue with five minutes to go when he guessed correctly and dived to his left to turn O'Brien's penalty past the post. The goalkeeper is back in the first team at the expense of Neil Alexander this season after previously being dropped in the wake of the infamous 'Boozegate' affair. Smith said: "He's good at saving penalties, he's a good reaction saver. It doesn't underline anything. I've explained my decision before for playing him. He is a good goalkeeper and it was a terrific save." Motherwell assistant manager Peter Ward was also unsure whether the controversial penalty should have been given. He said: "Whether it was a penalty or not, I don't know. I was sitting down in the dug-out and it was hard to see the incident from there. "We'll have a look at it tonight on TV and see if it was a penalty. But it was an opportunity to win the game and unfortunately the goalkeeper made a brilliant save. "Ross Forbes is our penalty taker and unfortunately we made a decision to take him off so the responsibility fell to Jim. "He was brave enough to step up and it wasn't a bad penalty - just a brilliant save."

Source: Team_Talk