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.

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.

Sourced From BBC