CRAIG SAMSON refused to criticise striker Adam Rooney for the controversial penalty that helped Aberdeen on their way to a 3-1 win on Friday night.

Instead, the Motherwell goalkeeper blamed himself for allowing the Pittodrie striker the opportunity to go down easily in the box as the game sat tied at 1-1.

On 25 minutes a Kenny McLean shot from 20 yards was spilled by the 32-year-old, allowing Rooney to pounce on the ball before going down under Samson’s scrambling challenge.

Television replays showed there was minimal contact between the two as the Irishman hit the deck, only to then dust himself down, see his spot kick saved then bury the rebound.

Aberdeen went on to win comfortably, but Samson was honest enough to find fault in his own error rather than that of referee Bobby Madden.

He said: “Adam Rooney has done well for it, he knows it’s spilled off me, I should have done better with the first one, and as he comes in he’s played for it a wee bit but it’s good striker’s play as he’s managed to win the penalty.

“I felt he kicked me. There was contact but I felt he made contact with me rather than the other way around.

“It’s clever striker’s play, that’s what good strikers do. They’ll try to get the penalty and win them the game and that’s what he’s done.

“But I’ve given him the opportunity to do it by dropping the ball. So I’m not going to complain about it, I should do better with the first shot and he does well to win the penalty.

“It’s not a bad taste. I’ve got to do better with the first one. It doesn’t happen if I catch the first one or get it away, so I’m not going to complain about it.”

It was a game of fine margins that saw Motherwell suffer.

While Aberdeen managed to convert a rebound from their penalty, it was something that the home side could not replicate after Keith Lasley was felled in the box and Louis Moult’s effort from the spot was saved by Joe Lewis.

Mark McGhee’s team didn’t kick on and instead were stung with a late Niall McGinn goal as the game ebbed away.

Samson said: “I didn’t think there was much in the game, it was actually quite strange the way it went. They scored, we got one back and then they got the penalty which was saved and scored the rebound and then we got a penalty and missed the rebound. Then we hit the bar and they hit the bar.

“It was a wee bit nip and tuck and then at the end we went for it, the manager pushed a lot of people on and they caught us on the break and scored a good goal for their third.

“It’s disappointing we didn’t get something from the game but we’ve just got to recover and be ready to go for Inverness on Wednesday.”

The one crumb of consolation for Motherwell was the stunning strike from Scott McDonald that briefly brought the hosts level, but Samson admitted the Australian was not shouting about his extraordinary overhead volley in the midst of defeat.

“He’s not saying anything. It’s different if you win, you can come in and talk about it,” said the keeper.

“It was a fantastic finish by Scott, absolutely brilliant. He’s a top, top player, he’s played at the top level in British football, he’s played in Europe for Celtic, so we know what he’s capable of here and he’s certainly a massive asset for us at this football club.

“Unfortunately it didn’t get us anything in the game.”