Stephen Robinson: Motherwell deserved to lose

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson admitted his side deserved nothing from their Betfred Cup clash at Stranraer.

Motherwell claimed a point after a 1-1 draw at Stair Park, but the hosts claimed a bonus point after former Fir Park trainee Max Currie saved two penalties in a 3-2 shoot-out success.

Peter Hartley headed Motherwell in front in the 38th minute but new signing Conor Sammon hit the bar from close range and Isaac Layne levelled just before the hour mark after shrugging off Hartley to finish well.

Motherwell lost Charles Dunne from their central defence following an early injury and Layne caused them problems all afternoon to leave them five points off group leaders Queen of the South, who visit Fir Park on Tuesday.

Robinson said: “I thought Stranraer deserved to win, you have to be honest at times. We didn’t do the simple things right and I thought we really struggled at the back at times.

“There’s a massive improvement needed from a lot of players. We went one ahead, we should have gone 2-0 up. You could say it was foul before their goal but that’s certainly not the reason we lost the game.”

Stranraer boss Stevie Farrell was delighted for his players.

“Isaac Layne was a wee bit of a lost soul, people forgot about him, but we were keen to bring him in all summer and he’s a very good player,” he said.

“He’s a handful. That was top defenders he was up against and at times he bullied them. He deserved his goal.

“The most important in any shoot-out is the goalkeeper and I said to the players, the one thing I can guarantee is that Max Currie will save a penalty. He’s a very, very good shot-stopper and he proved that.”