Motherwell gaffer Stuart Kettlewell believes Fashion Sakala was offside for Rangers’ third goal at Fir Park - despite VAR ruling that it stood.
After a 4-2 loss at home - his first as ‘Well manager - he was disappointed by some of the officials’ decisions. Kettlewell isn’t convinced Todd Cantwell’s goal should have been given even though VAR lines were drawn and Sakala was deemed to be onside in the build-up. He was also gutted to lose midfielder Callum Slattery to a suspension after he was red carded by ref Nick Walsh for catching Cantwell with a flying arm late on.
Afterwards, Kettlewell said: “I thought the last 10 minutes were harsh on us and I need some clarity on the big calls in the game. The Sakala one is a massive moment. And I also need clarity on Callum’s second yellow card. There’s contact there but he’s trying to protect the ball and he’s not aware of Cantwell behind him. The contact is made on Cantwell’s shoulder. That was really frustrating.
“I’m not calling anyone out - I just need clarity. For the third goal, it looks like our player Dan Casey is the blue line which is behind the red line of Sakala, from the pictures I’ve seen. It looks like Sakala is offside. I’m not hammering the system but it’s a big goal at an important time.
“There’s a degree of frustration there. I have faith in VAR but I’ve always said there can’t be an opinion on offside calls. They have to be crystal clear, there can be no grey areas. But coming away from that game, I think there is a grey area today. That third goal has planted a seed of doubt in my head.”
Motherwell put up a decent fight against Rangers having led through Kevin van Veen early on. Sub Bevis Mugabe made it 2-2 in the second half before goals from Cantwell and Malik Tillman put the game beyond them. Kettlewell has lost his unbeaten record as gaffer but praised his players’ efforts.
He said: “I thought we were really good at what we wanted to do in the game. In the first half we limited Rangers to virtually nothing. When you play against a team of that quality, you have to be happy with that first chunk of it. We scored a brilliant goal ourselves from something we’d identified but the second half opened up a bit and the game hinged on some big calls.”
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