St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin felt his team were denied two major penalty claims in their 1-1 William Hill Scottish Cup draw with Motherwell.
Saints claimed for handballs against Liam Donnelly and Peter Hartley in quick succession after Ilkay Durmus had a shot saved as they trailed to Mark O’Hara’s 21st-minute opener.
Durmus also hit a post in the first half but Motherwell looked comfortable after the break until Alex Jakubiak marked his first St Mirren start with a deflected strike in the 74th minute.
With the wind and rain worsening, both sides went for a winner but will play again for a quarter-final place at Fir Park on February 18.
Goodwin – who lost Lee Hodson to a hamstring injury – said: “I felt we had two serious claims for a penalty in the first half. Sam Foley has a shot and it looks like it’s hit the midfielder’s hands and then Hods is trying to put a ball in and it’s blocked by a defender’s hands.
“I think if that decision goes for you and you come in at half-time level pegging with the wind behind you in the second half then you could try to win it. It looked to me as if the hands weren’t in a natural position.”
However, Goodwin felt a draw was a fair result.
“I was really pleased with how the players went about it in the first half,” he added. “I felt we slightly shaded it in terms of quality and chances created. We were looking forward to the second half with the elements behind you but I don’t think we utilised the wind well enough.
“We didn’t get the ball wide enough to get crosses in the box and we didn’t work the goalkeeper enough.
“The conditions were horrendous. We knew from the forecast that it was coming but it just got gradually worse and worse as the day went on.
“I was just hoping the wind wasn’t going to change direction at half-time. The way our luck is going we could have come out and the wind was in our face again.”
Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson was happy to come away with a draw after a decision to play with the wind in the first half almost backfired.
“It was a good decision that because we thought we’d take advantage of the wind and it might disappear,” he joked.
“It definitely didn’t, it got stronger as the day went on. But the amount of times you decide to have the wind second half and then it disappears…
“But it ruined the game as a spectacle in the second half, balls running out of play that usually would have stayed in and players having bad touches.
“But our fans saw a real battling performance, turned out in their numbers and hopefully we can reward them next Tuesday.”
Robinson added: “I thought second half we were better, we tried to get ownership of the game and play. The conditions were so, so difficult for the players but they showed great character, dug in and I’m delighted we are still in the hat.”
