Stuart Kettlewell critical of referee Chris Graham following Motherwell's defeat at Ross County

Stuart Kettlewell criticised the performance of referee Chris Graham after watching his Motherwell side lose 2-1 at Ross County.

Kettlewell was shown a yellow card in the second half after lamenting one decision too vocally.

After the final whistle, Kettlewell bemoaned the lack of rhythm in the game, attributing that to the number of fouls that were given.

He said that made for a poor spectacle in Dingwall, and believes a lengthy VAR check for offside after Zach Robinson pulled one back late on denied them any chance of capitalising on that momentum.

“Ross County will enjoy the day because they get three points, but I doubt anyone enjoyed that game of football,” Kettlewell said.

“There was never a flow allowed to the game because of the fouls given, and staff and managers who naturally get frustrated were come after.

“I don’t have an ego in any shape or form, I just want to see a game of football played.

“I’m not looking for time-wasting. We can talk about the conditions, but if I was a paying supporter I would be incredibly hurt by that.

“We have to do better in the second half, but there can’t be one supporter in the stadium that enjoyed the lack of flow in that game.

“When we score, they look nervy, but we have to wait six minutes to get the game going again which kills any momentum we might have built.”

For his part, Ross County manager Don Cowie was also shown a yellow card for his reaction to a decision which went against his team.

He was not as critical of the officials’ performance, but did make similar points about the referee being too quick to blow his whistle after what Cowie deemed to be the natural physicality of football.

“I shouldn’t get a yellow card,” Cowie said.

“You’ve got to deal with the decisions that are made, but both benches are frustrated with the decisions that were made.

“Every contact was given as a foul, but we’ve got to remember it’s football.

“At the same time, I’m disappointed that I let myself get too frustrated.”