Tony Watt’s honesty led to Motherwell being denied a penalty as they had to settle for draw with St Mirren, suggests manager Graham Alexander.
Devante Cole hit a post for Motherwell, but it was a Scottish Premiership tussle of few chances as both sides cancelled each other out.
Alexander, though, questioned why Watt was not awarded a spot kick after a first-half challenge in the box.
“The communication we’ve had is, if he goes down, it’s a penalty,” he said.
“It was a foul, but he’s got to go down. But, if it’s a foul, it’s a foul. Tony’s an honest guy, perhaps too honest.
“We don’t encouraging cheating or diving, but he was certainly clipped and you could see the response of the home bench – they knew they had got away with one.”
Motherwell’s point increased the gap between themselves and bottom of the table Hamilton Academical to five points, albeit having played a game more.
It is sixth-placed St Mirren’s fourth consecutive draw and their fifth outing without a win.
It was a first half to forget in Paisley. Joe Shaughnessy’s weak header at Motherwell goalkeeper Liam Kelly seconds before half-time was the only effort on target.
Before that, Shaughnessy headed a free-kick wide and, at the other end, Barry Maguire had a shot deflected past a post, but they were the only highlights of a game devoid of quality.
There was improvement after the break an,d within the first minute, there had been more action than in the previous 45.
St Mirren’s Ilkay Durmus volleyed a cross towards the bottom right-hand corner and Kelly brilliantly palmed it wide.
Then Allan Campbell drove into the box and won a corner by forcing St Mirren goalkeeper Jak Alnwick into a save – then the same player ended a neat passing move by firing over.
Motherwell were having the better of it. Cole had a near post shot saved before Robbie Crawford and Jordan Roberts sent efforts over.
Cole came closest to piercing the deadlock when he flicked his heels at a corner kick and directed it towards goal, but it bounced back off the inside of a post.
As the rain pelted down late on, the visitors continued to be the more likely to find a winner, but St Mirren almost had the final say when substitute Kyle McAllister cut inside and Jake Carroll had to get his head in the way to divert wide.
Man of the match – Allan Campbell
What did we learn?
It was two sides who didn’t want to give much away and who cancelled each other out for large spells.
Motherwell grew stronger as the game went on but could not make their pressure, or the large number of set-piece opportunities, count.
What did they say?
St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin: “I’m disappointed. It was a really scrappy game, both teams defended really well, but I thought the game lacked quality in the final third.
“We rode our luck in the second half with the one that comes off the post, but there wasn’t really any clear-cut chances for either team.”
Motherwell manager Graham Alexander: “I’m content with the point but thought we did things where we could have got the three points.
“I was delighted with the players’ response to two difficult results previously.”
What’s next?
St Mirren are at home to Ross County on Saturday (15:00 GMT), while at the same time Motherwell visit Hibernian.
Player of the match
CampbellAllan Campbell
St Mirren
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Squad number2Player nameTait
Average rating6.40
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Squad number11Player nameDurmus
Average rating6.31
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Squad number22Player nameFraser
Average rating6.30
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Squad number4Player nameShaughnessy
Average rating5.83
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Squad number10Player nameMcAllister
Average rating5.81
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Squad number17Player nameMcGrath
Average rating5.79
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Squad number7Player nameDoyle-Hayes
Average rating5.76
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Squad number25Player nameErhahon
Average rating5.72
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Squad number9Player nameObika
Average rating5.55
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Squad number1Player nameAlnwick
Average rating5.51
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Squad number21Player nameConnolly
Average rating5.50
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Squad number14Player nameMacPherson
Average rating5.45
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Squad number5Player nameMcCarthy
Average rating5.31
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Squad number23Player nameErwin
Average rating4.41
Motherwell
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Squad number6Player nameCampbell
Average rating7.90
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Squad number32Player nameWatt
Average rating7.63
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Squad number8Player nameCrawford
Average rating7.40
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Squad number44Player nameCole
Average rating7.27
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Squad number39Player nameRoberts
Average rating7.22
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Squad number15Player nameMaguire
Average rating6.89
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Squad number3Player nameCarroll
Average rating6.78
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Squad number4Player nameLamie
Average rating6.76
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Squad number40Player nameMagloire
Average rating6.67
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Squad number33Player nameO’Donnell
Average rating6.26
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Squad number13Player nameKelly
Average rating5.71
Line-ups
St Mirren
Formation 3-4-2-1
- 1Alnwick
- 22Fraser
- 5McCarthy
- 4ShaughnessyBooked at 61mins
- 2TaitSubstituted forMcAllisterat 73′minutes
- 7Doyle-Hayes
- 25Erhahon
- 11DurmusBooked at 21mins
- 14MacPhersonSubstituted forErwinat 69′minutes
- 17McGrath
- 9ObikaSubstituted forConnollyat 82′minutes
Substitutes
- 8Flynn
- 10McAllister
- 15Finlayson
- 21Connolly
- 23Erwin
- 26Lyness
- 27Urminsky
- 30Henderson
- 33Jamieson
Motherwell
Formation 4-3-3
- 13Kelly
- 33O’Donnell
- 40Magloire
- 4Lamie
- 3Carroll
- 15MaguireBooked at 42mins
- 8Crawford
- 6Campbell
- 39Roberts
- 44Cole
- 32Watt
Substitutes
- 5McGinley
- 9Long
- 11Hastie
- 14Lawless
- 19Polworth
- 23Morrison
- 24Devine
- 26Cornelius
- 27Johnston
- Referee:
- Kevin Clancy
Match Stats
Live Text
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Match ends, St. Mirren 0, Motherwell 0.
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Second Half ends, St. Mirren 0, Motherwell 0.
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Corner, St. Mirren. Conceded by Jake Carroll.
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Attempt blocked. Kyle McAllister (St. Mirren) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Jamie McGrath.
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Ethan Erhahon (St. Mirren) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Foul by Allan Campbell (Motherwell).
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Corner, St. Mirren. Conceded by Stephen O’Donnell.
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Corner, Motherwell. Conceded by Joe Shaughnessy.
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Substitution, St. Mirren. Dylan Connolly replaces Jonathan Obika.
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Foul by Lee Erwin (St. Mirren).
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Jake Carroll (Motherwell) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
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Devante Cole (Motherwell) hits the left post with a right footed shot from very close range following a corner.
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Corner, Motherwell. Conceded by Marcus Fraser.
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Attempt blocked. Jordan Roberts (Motherwell) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Devante Cole.
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Attempt missed. Jordan Roberts (Motherwell) left footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the left. Assisted by Devante Cole with a headed pass.
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Substitution, St. Mirren. Kyle McAllister replaces Richard Tait.
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Attempt missed. Robbie Crawford (Motherwell) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner following a corner.
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Corner, Motherwell. Conceded by Jak Alnwick.
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Attempt saved. Devante Cole (Motherwell) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the right is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Tony Watt with a through ball.
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Substitution, St. Mirren. Lee Erwin replaces Cameron MacPherson.