Mark McGhee: I told players to keep their cool with referees after recent rows

Aug 31 2008 By Gavin Berry

MARK McGHEE revealed he tried to take the heat off under-fire officials by telling his Motherwell players NOT to dispute any contentious decisions.

And the Steelmen did exactly that by keeping their cool despite having a penalty claim turned down in the second half of their 1-0 win.

Striker Chris Porter was pulled down by Martin Canning but whistler Stuart Dougal waved away the shouts and McGhee was glad his players left it at that.

John Sutton went on to score the winner and McGhee said: "One of the things we spoke about at the recent meeting with refs was holding and there looked to be a bit of that.

"It was too far away to tell but you claim for everything anyway. We trust the referee and we'll see it on telly.

"One thing I said to my players was to try and do our best to assist officials.

"I'm not sure if there was any notable difference.

"They were under strict instructions from me to claim for every decision they wanted to but not dispute and you'll see from our penalty shout there was no big scene when it wasn't given."

Goal hero Sutton added: "The manager said before the game it's important to appeal for everything you feel you deserve but to then let it drop and give referees an easy time.

"That's a good message. You have to respect the ref's decision. They've been getting a hard time and it's tough for them.

"I thought it was a stonewall penalty but had to bite my lip when we didn't get it."

McGhee was happy his side got their first win and said: "I've tried to make the point all week that we felt we were in form despite results not going our way.

"But it's Celtic and Rangers next in the league and it could have become difficult because they are two games we could easily lose.

"To have gone into those two without a win would have made us a little uncomfortable."