Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson spoke of “laughable hypocrisy” as he dismissed the furore over their Celtic Park goal.
Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers questioned Motherwell’s ethics and Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain claimed they should have been embarrassed over their goal in Sunday’s 4-1 defeat.
Teenager James Scott played on when the Hoops expected the ball to be returned after kicking it out to allow treatment to Ryan Christie.
However, Robinson was far more interested in the head injury to Carl McHugh and their trip to face Kilmarnock in the Ladbrokes Premiership on Wednesday.
Robinson said: “I didn’t hear what Scott Bain said. I’m not really too interested in what Scott Bain said to be honest, it doesn’t really bother me.
“It won’t have any affect on us.
“Listen, let me say one thing and clear this subject up very quickly: the hypocrisy in sport is laughable. That’s all I am saying on the matter.”
The goal was the latest controversy to hit Motherwell-Celtic fixtures in recent seasons, with the penalty won by Scott Sinclair in last term’s Betfred Cup final among the flashpoints.
But Robinson would not expand on his statement.
“We have a massive game against Killie, to see where our young squad are, to try and get into the top six,” he said. “That’s what matters to me.
“That game has gone, Brendan’s left. They won the game, they got the points.”
When asked how Scott was after the furore, Robinson said: “James is fine, trained really well on Monday, in contention to start again.”
McHugh will sit out the game after his latest head injury, although hospital scans revealed no apparent damage.
The Irishman missed almost five months of the 2016-17 season with concussion and missed the last game of 2018 after a clash of heads with team-mate Charles Dunne against Kilmarnock.
Robinson said: “Carl’s okay. For the fourth time this season he has been knocked out so it was a real, real concern for us.
“He has a massive bang on his head, so obviously he won’t play for a couple of weeks. That’s what I am really worried about.
“Listen, he was scared after the game and I can’t blame him. He was completely knocked out, he couldn’t move, he was in a neck brace for four hours, which was obviously precautionary.
“(Motherwell physio) Davie Henderson and the medical staff at Celtic were fantastic for us.
“It’s difficult because Carl plays with an aggression and he is really good in the air.
“He has been really, really unlucky and before I came to the club he had a real problem psychologically and recovering from that is a little bit scary.
“He says he feels a lot better than after the Kilmarnock game in terms of his health and what he’s thinking, and he doesn’t feel physically sick or anything.
“It was scary scenes, that’s the serious bit of football when someone is in a neck brace and potentially could have been paralysed the way he landed.
“So thank goodness it’s not that serious and it’s just a case of following the concussion protocol.
“We will speak to Carl and we have a fantastic medical staff and we will give him all the help we can to get him back as quick as we can.”
