Jens Berthel Askou furious as beaten Motherwell see goal ruled out by VAR

Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou was left furious by the “absolutely shocking” VAR decision to chalk off an Ibrahim Said goal as his side lost 2-1 to Falkirk.

Although Well dominated the first half, they only had a Tawanda Maswanhise goal to show for it after Said was penalised for a foul in the build-up to his 17th-minute strike.

Second-half goals from Calvin Miller and Scott Arfield then completed a comeback for Falkirk that had appeared unlikely at the break.

Fir Park boss Askou believes Motherwell could have had the match wrapped by half-time if the VAR decision had gone in their favour.

Askou said: “We scored two beautiful goals in the first half and, for reasons I will never understand, one of them was disallowed.

“It’s absolutely shocking and, at 2-0, we would have had so much momentum.

“Ibby gets his body in front of the Falkirk player and shields the ball. If anything, he is the one being fouled. Because Ibby is strong as an ox, he continues and scores a beautiful goal.”

Askou was also unhappy that Arfield’s winner survived a VAR review.

Motherwell claimed that defender Paul McGinn was pulled by Brian Graham as he cleared the ball that landed for Arfield.

“For the Falkirk winner, I didn’t even bother asking the fourth official if they were going to look at it,” said Askou.

“I was 100 per cent certain they would. Because when you pull a central defender back so that he’s off balance when he heads the ball, of course it’s a foul.

“I was absolutely shocked that they gave that goal.”

Falkirk boss John McGlynn admitted he debated about bringing on match-winner Arfield.

The Bairns boss was thrilled to see Arfield, in his second stint with the club, produce a trademark strike with 11 minutes left having come off the bench in the 74th minute.

“There is an area on the pitch where, if Scott gets the ball, he is lethal,” said McGlynn, whose side moved above the hosts into eighth in the William Hill Premiership.

“He is probably the best in Scotland when the ball lands there.

“Scotty always hits the target and at least forces a save from the goalkeeper, and that is why we put him on.

“There was a debate – do we put on A or B? We went with Scotty because he was more likely to get a goal. And he produced the goods and played a big part in getting us three points.

“He is so valuable for us every day and he never mumps and moans about not starting games.

“Scotty is a top professional. He came here to get us promoted and he did that. Now he is still making a contribution for us in the Premiership.”