By grabar
August 29 2010

Motherwell were defeated by a Daryl Murphy penalty in the second half in a disappointing game with Celtic this afternoon

Motherwell looked lack lustre this afternoon after their recent exertions in Europe, and despite a lot of effort never really created enough to score against Celtic.

On the other hand it was a controversial penalty that allowed Celtic to take the lead and seal all three points.

The major talking point around the game was the penalty, Suanders and Murphy chased a long ball into the box and while there was contact the Celtic striker needed little invitation to go to ground.

The ref also showed a straight red card, which looked harsh as the tackle didn't appear to deny a goal scoring aopportunity, although Saunders had been booked earlier and probably would've gone with a second anyway.

Even the way Murphy took the penalty was debateable as he took a stutter step before beating Randolph high to his right. I thought this move had been banned, but there you go.....

Even the normally diplomatic Craig Brown wasn't impressed by the penalty award, "I think it was an easy one to give, I have watched it on television and it was two players who were running side by side. There was a challenge but Maloney’s legs quickly left the ground very quickly. 

“The referee wasn’t in a good position and he was very quick to give the decision. There was contact but he went down easily and Saunders gave him the chance to make the decision.”

In the end Motherwell were caught a bit lacking today but it is always disappointing to lose to the Old Firm with one of these debateable decisions.