Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell admits he's "baffled" at a crucial penalty decision after his side went down 2-1 at home to Dundee United.

Referee Nick Walsh awarded a spot-kick to the visitors with 20 minutes to go after Steven Fletcher was brought down by Fir Park goalkeeper Liam Kelly.

And then at the end of the match, he booked the former Scotland international after he went down in the box in a similar situation.

"I’ve watched back the penalty incident," he said "I’m a little bit baffled why Steven Fletcher gets booked for the one at the end because they are identical incidents.

"Exactly the same. In one there’s a penalty and the other there’s a yellow card.

"It’s either two penalties or two yellow cards. That’s going back to this issue of consistency.

"Liam doesn’t feel the first one is a penalty. He is disappointed it was given.

"Would we be screaming for it? We probably would do, we all want decisions.

“But they were identical situations yet completely different outcomes.

“I just want clarity and consistency - for good or bad. There’s a bit of confusion here.

“But it’s not an excuse, we were 1-0 up and should’ve done better from there.”

Kevin van Veen opened the scoring for the Steelmen early in the first half as they dominated the opening exchanges.

However, a second-half collapse meant they walked away with nothing after goals from Ilmari Niskanen and the aforementioned penalty from Jamie McGrath.

READ MORE: Jim Goodwin hails Dundee United players after victory over Motherwell

And while Kettlewell was left bewildered at the decision he accepted that his team were not at their best

"I’m disappointed, getting our noses in front without playing particularly well.

"I thought we started the second half well enough and genuinely expected us to win.

"But between the two penalty boxes we were a bit lethargic not as much energy of late and didn’t get close enough to our opponents.

"We were architects of our own downfall at stages, just by being loose in possession and making some poor choices.

"That built a bit of belief and momentum for United who capitalised on it."