Hibs 3, Motherwell 0: Well boss fumes over penalty opener and blasts lack of consistency

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell fumed over referee inconsistencies as his side fell to a 3-0 defeat to Hibs at Easter Road.

On an evening that was as much about a farewell to Hibees players Paul Hanlon and Lewis Stevenson as it was taking three Premiership points, the hosts ran riot with a comfortable scoreline.

But they were literally given a helping hand for the opening goal in 38 minutes when Myziane Maolida flicked the ball up into Stephen O’Donnell’s hand from close range, with referee Iain Snedden immediately pointing to the spot.

Maolida stepped up to ram the spot-kick past Liam Kelly, with Martin Boyle scoring the first of his double on the stroke of half-time and the second 10 minutes after the break to seal the points.

Raging Kettlewell pointed out the similarities to a spot-kick Motherwell weren’t given against Aberdeen earlier in the season when Graeme Shinnie handled – which they were later told should have been given – in a 1-0 defeat in which they were denied a goal for a very similar ‘offence’ against Theo Bair.

Kettlewell wants new refs chief Willie Collum to get that fixed and said: “Quite clearly he has some work on his hands.

“We had the same incident, in fact it was from a further distance against Aberdeen, not so long ago.

“We asked the question at the time and were told Graeme Shinnie was too close to the ball.

“Stephen is not even a yard away from the opposition player, and the ball ricochets off his hand and the referee instantly gives it.

“The referee said he was happy with the decision because it was consistent with what has happened across the season. I totally disagree.

“I have seen them given, but the last one I saw very similar to that wasn’t given – and the reason is the player knew nothing about it.

“I’d love somebody to tell me Stephen knew anything about that.

“The penalty was a big moment in the game, but I think we can show a better reaction than we did. It spooked us.”

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