Alexander is seeking three points on Saturday after a ‘frustrating’ refereeing decision against Hibs.

Motherwell boss Graham Alexander is looking to take all three points in his side’s Scottish Premiership game against Hearts on Saturday.

Speaking about the game at Tynecastle, Alexander said: “I’m a simple guy, so I keep it simple for myself and my players - there’s three points there, we need to go and win them and that’s what we try to do.

“It’s our points tally that’s most important to me, because we don’t know what exact points tally you need to finish in any position.

“You just need to try and get as many points as possible so we just try to compete for every point that is there for us.”

There are seven points separating the sides in the Scottish top flight, Hearts in third and Motherwell in fourth and a win for Alexander’s men on Saturday would close the gap significantly.

But the Motherwell boss has been left with a slightly sour taste in his mouth after Wednesday’s game against Hibs.

Alexander was sent to the stands in the closing 20 minutes at Fir Park not long after midfielder Liam Donnelly saw red in the 73rd minute of the game.

The decision has left Alexander frustrated at the lack of consistency from the officials in the game.

He said: “I think that was my frustration the other night, Liam made two fouls in second half and got sent off.

“Their centre half made two fouls within around three mins in first half and I was told he was getting a warning.

“All officials referee games in different ways, they have different tolerance levels and you normally try to get a feel for a referee in first 15 or 20 minutes of a game.

“But I saw a difference in how one of my players was treated compared to one of their players – that’s where my frustration was.”

He explained that his annoyance at the discrepancy was potentially the reason for his own sending off.

He said: “I can’t ever just sit there and not feel the game, I know I can’t.

“I don’t want to, I want to feel the game, I don’t want to feel like a zombie there.

“I know sometimes I can step over the line but I don’t believe I did that the other day – I was shouting, I did swear but that was it.

“I think the referee was too far away to hear anything I was saying and he didn’t come close enough to explain why he made the decision and I’m not allowed to speak to them [the officials] after the game so I don’t know what the reason was.”

The incident has caused Alexander to call for better communication between match officials and coaching staff.

He said: “I think communication is really important in life, I communicate with my players - they can come into my office and talk any time about anything – I feel that isn’t there between managers and officials.

“We can’t go and see them after the game, we’re not allowed.

“I think we all have to try and help the game and officials have a really important part in that.

“I think they do the job to the best of their abilities but I think we all have to work together, players, coaches, officials, to make the best game possible and help each other do our jobs to the best of our abilities.

“I need officials to help me do my job and I think vice versa as well but at the moment it just seems like there’s a barrier there.”