McCall Rues Luck

Pic: Jeff Holmes

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall bemoaned a cruel late twist in his side's Europa League opener against Stjarnan after they shipped a two-goal lead at Fir Park after Keith Lasley conceded two penalties. Stuart Carswell missed a great chance to put Well 3-0 up after Josh Law's early double, but the game changed on 35 minutes when Lasley handled, allowing Olafur Karl Finsen to score a penalty. Simon Ramsden appeared to be brought down in the Stjarnan box in injury-time, but the visitors broke and Lasley was punished for a push before Finsen netted an equaliser. McCall said: "We had chances to go 3-0 and they get a penalty from nowhere. It's a cruel deflection and it goes back in the box and Las reacts to the ball and it's a penalty. "It could have ended up being 6-6. It ended up being how I thought it would. We had a lot of the ball and created a lot of chances, but they were always a threat on the break. "Even the penalty again it ricochets and hits Las and goes back into the box and he brings the boy down. We're fortunate Las has not been sent off because he was booked for the first one. "All in all we are disappointed at being pegged back. But I don't see next week being any different. They sit in and hit on the counter. It's still all to play for." When asked about Ramsden's penalty claim, McCall said: "It possibly could have been, the boy sort of brings him down but the referee would have needed razor eyes to see that."