MOTHERWELL midfielder Callum Slattery was irked that the Fir Park side were denied a second-half penalty against Celtic on Saturday but conceded it was not the reason for their defeat.

Slattery also maintained that he was fouled in the build-up by Kyogo Furuhashi in the build-up to Celtic’s opener with the first goal settling the visitors.

Manager Graham Alexander was furious in the aftermath of the game at the decisions which went against Motherwell but Slattery was more pragmatic, albeit he couldn’t hide his frustration.

“It was on myself and I thought it was a foul but the ref hasn’t given it and then they have countered and scored,” he said. “Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t. I thought it was a foul but I am not going to say that is the reason for the scoreline. 

“A lot of people around the ground thought it was a penalty. I haven’t actually seen it back myself but from first view I thought it was a penalty but the referee has missed that one. The referee has got some things right and some things wrong but I did think that one was a penalty. 

“In any game you need luck whether that is a penalty or a free-kick. On Saturday we didn’t seem to have that luck but we take this game and move on now to next weekend. 

“We did create a few chances, maybe not as clear cut as we would have liked, but we certainly had spells in the game where we were on top and causing a problem. Some days it goes your way and some days it doesn’t. 

“I said it after the last game that we are not going to take the defeat too much to heart and it is the same when we win, we don’t get too ahead of ourselves. We will try to bounce back.”