MORGARO GOMIS went straight to referee Steven McLean at full-time. Mark McGhee more or less went straight up the tunnel, later joking, we think, about kicking the officials’ door in anger.
Scott McDonald, taken off for Lionel Ainsworth with the tie looking destined for a replay, became involved in deep discussion with fourth official, Andrew Dallas.
The frustration from the home side was understandable. Tangible, almost.
Having come back from conceding an own goal through Stephen McManus thanks to a sharp finish from McDonald, there seems little doubt McLean blundered in the early stages of stoppage-time by allowing a challenge from matchwinner Jordan Roberts on Gomis to go unpunished in the centre of the field.
The English midfielder barged the on-loan Hearts player from behind to win possession and then embarked on a marvellous run which ended with a 25-yard thunderbolt soaring past goalkeeper Connor Ripley in the most majestic fashion to make sure the Scottish Cup holders will be in the hat for tomorrow night’s quarter-final draw at Hampden Park.
“I’m gutted,” said McGhee. “Just look at the incident on video.
“Their boy has barged our player, we are a man down and the boy scores.
“It is every week we are talking and the last point of the game is the referee.
“What can I say? The referee is five yards away. Did I speak to him? No. I kicked his door.
“How can I criticise my team? If we keep doing what we are doing, I’m convinced we’ll get a break and the referee will give a good decision in our favour. I’d even take a bad decision in our favour.”
Roberts, of course, pleaded his innocence after the final whistle. If ever a fellow needed a break, it is him. The 22-year-old arrived in the Highlands from Aldershot Town in the summer, but a succession of groin injuries had restricted him to just two extremely brief substitute appearances until yesterday.
He replaced Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo on 57 minutes in this one and made the very most of a rare opportunity to shine.
“It’s probably up there as one of the best goals I’ve ever scored,” he said. “I’ve had a hard time and I hope I can now push on.
“As for the challenge, I think it was 50-50, shoulder to shoulder. There’s always going to be one player that comes off second best and that was him.”
Despite such a dramatic finale, this was not exactly a classic encounter. It took half-an-hour to really rumble into life with Ripley touching a looping header from Carl Tremarco onto the crossbar and gathering at the second attempt.
The home side would then be denied in similar fashion when McDonald saw a header from a Marvin Johnson cross come off the woodwork with salt being rubbed into their wounds just a minute or so later.
Five minutes from the interval, Tremarco scurried into space on the left and cut a dangerous low ball into the danger area, which McManus turned into his own net under pressure from Miles Storey.
Motherwell did enjoy plenty of the game following the opening goal with Stephen Pearson failing to connect with a Chris Cadden cross in a dangerous area, but they needed Ripley to keep them in it with a couple of decent saves.
He got his body in the way of a low shot from Storey in a one-on-one situation, which allowed McManus to clear the loose ball, and then got down low at his near post on 65 minutes to deny Danny Williams’ deft flick from a dangerous Storey cross.
With the second half at the midway point, it looked like Motherwell had weathered the storm when McDonald got them back on level terms. Stevie Hammell fired in a good corner from the left which McManus rose high to power towards goal.
McDonald reacted quicker than anyone to stick out a foot and divert it beyond goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams and into the net.
The game looked destined for a midweek replay until Roberts used his muscle to win possession and a little magic to finish things off.
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