Last night's result: Motherwell 1, Hamilton Accies 2 (after extra time)

Motherwell crashed out of the League Cup to local rivals Hamilton at Fir Park last night - the Accies first win over Motherwell in 20 years.  However, the game will be remembered for the performance of referee Ian Brines, who sent off a player from each side and booked a further 10, despite there hardly being a bad tackle in the game.

There was one change from the side which lost at Ibrox, with Jamie Murphy given a start ahead of John Sutton.

The first half was poor, and although Motherwell were far from impressive we were still easily the better side.  Hughes hit the inside of the post with a rasping shot early on, with Porter also hitting the woodwork with a header on 33 mins.  The turning point came shortly before the interval, when referee Brines inexplicably red carded Chris Porter for a late tackle on Elebert when the challenge merited a booking at the very most.

From this point on we were always going to be up against it, and it was no real surprise when the visitors took the lead on 53 mins courtesy of a fine Graham effort from the edge of the box.  Jamie Murphy had us level shortly afterwards when he drilled home from close range, then Accies' McCarthy somehow missed an open goal before the match went to extra time.

Hamilton regained the lead 5 mins after the restart through Ettien, and there were further chances at both ends as Motherwell went all out for a second equaliser, leaving huge gaps at the back.  Malcolm rattled the bar with a free kick before Mensing was dismissed for a second bookable offence.  Substitute Darren Smith hit the woodwork yet again in the dying minutes when it looked easier to score as Accies held out.

There's no doubt that the referee cost us the game last night.  Playing with a man short for almost 75 mins was a huge ask, although we certainly created more than enough chances to win the game.  Just a pity we only really started to play once we were reduced to 10 men.

Team (4-3-3): Graeme Smith, Quinn, Craigan (Fitzpatrick 37), Reynolds, Hammell, Lasley, Malcolm, Hughes (Sutton 60), Clarkson, Porter, Murphy (Darren Smith 72). 
Subs Not Used: Nielsen, McGarry.

Motherwell scorer: Murphy (66).

Booked: Hammell, Reynolds.

Sent Off: Porter (45). 

Attendance: 5,590.

Mark McGhee's post-match comments were as follows:
"I know that Chris Porter is as honest a lad as you'll get. I wish he would hurt somebody. He didn't even think he was going to get booked.  I managed to restrain myself. I have been trying really hard to support our referees, but it was a disappointing decision.  The referee said he has got to give it as he sees it. I said: 'Surely you have got to know the player?' I think they have got to understand the game.  If you ask me how we lost the game, it contributed eventually, but prior to that we haven't done enough.  It was really down to the first half when I was very disappointed with the quality. I think we needed to establish a lead.  And then after we went down to 10 men we ran out of energy. Losing Stephen Craigan to injury and Jamie Murphy to cramp didn't help."

Wasn't at Ibrox on Sunday, but it seems that we put up a reasonable display without creating too much upfront.  

Team: Graeme Smith, Quinn, Craigan, Reynolds, Hammell, Hughes (Darren Smith 67), Malcolm, Lasley, Clarkson, Porter, Sutton (Murphy 54). 
Subs Not Used: Nielsen, Fitzpatrick, O'Brien, McGarry, Connolly.

Motherwell scorer: Clarkson (87).

Booked: Quinn, Craigan.

Attendance: 49,448.

Mark McGhee launched an uncharacteristically scathing attack on his players after the Ibrox defeat:
"I feel it's the worst performance we've had since I've been at the football club  We were inept in every department, we were second to every ball, we never won a header, we never kept a ball.  I've never felt as disappointed as I do today about a performance since I've been at the club. It's not happened to me with this group of players before. We just seemed to lack desire and that was a big surprise to me.  I was up at 7am this morning talking to Scott Leitch on the phone and I thought we were coming here to win, I really did.  I felt we had a team set up with strength, energy, ability. We love coming here and it just all seemed right to me - but we never turned up.  I thought we did get a doing in all sorts of ways. I know my players really well, I know them inside out, and that wasn't right today.  The fact that we didn't lose 5-0, you would need to ask Walter (Smith) about that. Because if a team had played against me like that, I would have been expecting to win 5-0.

"It wasn't me, I don't feel that I got much wrong in terms of my preparation.  On Thursday night I admitted that I felt as though I didn't get it quite right and I made their lives a bit more difficult than it had to be.  It was more my fault on Thursday night that we didn't win the game; today it was more their fault.

"It was not even one per cent of anything to do with Thursday night.  I expected to do well here today. I thought I set my team up well but at half-time, at 0-0, we still hadn't started.  I still felt at half-time, if they found the proper gear that I know they're capable of, then there was something here for us today, that we could win the game. But we never found it.  I hope they're feeling a bit bruised, I hope they are feeling a bit embarrassed.  I don't care that it's Rangers we played today - they should be embarrassed coming here and playing like that.  The fact that it's Ibrox is not an excuse for me, we've got enough ability to do better than that."

Tickets for the Nancy home leg go on general sale tomorrow.