Elliot Watt believes they should have had a penalty but he’s not pinning the defeat on that
Motherwell appeal for a penalty as Lukas Fadinger goes down under a challenge from Emmanuel Fernandez
No excuses and no regrets. That was the message from Motherwell midfielder Elliot Watt after their defeat to Rangers.
And he says if The Steelmen are serious about being a top side in the Scottish Premiership – they must bounce back with a result against Celtic on Tuesday night.
Well’s 10-game unbeaten run came to an end at Ibrox after a 1-0 loss on Saturday.
Thelo Aasgaard’s second-half strike secured the points for Danny Rohl’s side, who leapfrogged Motherwell into third in the table.
Watt, along with gaffer Jens Berthel Askou, felt hard done by at full-time after being denied several times by Gers keeper Jack Butland – and also by ref David Dickinson who turned away their late penalty claim when Lukas Fadinger was challenged by Emmanuel Fernandez in the box.
But afterwards, Watt refused to dwell on it with another huge clash against the champions on the horizon. The 25-year-old – who has been a revelation at Fir Park this term – said:
“I said to the boys in the changing room on Saturday – it’s a sore one and it’s still raw but let’s not forget how far we’ve come.
Elliot Watt battles with Nico Raskin for the ball(Image: PA)
“We were 10 games unbeaten before Saturday with five consecutive clean sheets.
“If you’d said to Motherwell fans we’d be on that run just after Christmas going to Ibrox – I’m pretty sure they’d have snapped your hand off.
“We’re still a relatively new group. We haven’t been together long and the manager hasn’t been here long either.
“So we’ve come an incredibly long way. But that means nothing if we don’t bounce back from Saturday and put another run together.
“It was a difficult game but we’ll review it quickly and look forward to another tough one coming up.
“The manager is really ambitious and wants us to finish as high as we can. That’s also the feeling in the changing room.
“The sky’s the limit for us but we can’t get carried away, we need to keep our feet on the ground. The last time we took a defeat like this was at Celtic Park – and we lost to Falkirk in our next game.
“We don’t want to lose two on the bounce like we did previously so we’ve got to see what we can improve on ahead of another huge game. We want to get three points from that.”
Watt is adamant Motherwell should have had a penalty when Fadinger went down late on – but won’t use it as a reason for the loss. He said: “When you see it back on the angles we’ve got, I can’t believe it wasn’t given.
“Ultimately, we were lost for words. But I don’t want to make that an excuse and say what could have been with that decision. If we’d have put our chances away we could have left there with a comfortable result. It’s frustrating but I don’t want to pin it on that one decision.”
Askou’s side went toe-to-toe with Rangers but an inspired Butland display kept them out.
Watt said: “It’s a case of what might have been for us.
“It was almost like a basketball game. Sometimes it was great to play in but other times, it was frustrating – when you couldn’t get your breath running 60 yards one way then 60 yards back!
“Butland was outstanding for them, he made some crucial saves at important times. He had two great saves inside the first 15 minutes. But let’s not forget we’re up against a side who have an incredible history and who have spent a lot of money in the summer.”