STEPHEN ROBINSON insists he won’t use referee Craig Thomson as an excuse for Motherwell’s Ibrox thrashing – despite claiming that the whistler was ‘conned’ by Alfredo Morelos.

The Steelmen suffered a 7-1 defeat to Rangers on Sunday as Curtis Main’s first half equaliser proved scant consolation on a tough afternoon.

Motherwell were well in the game at that stage but the decision to send Carl McHugh off changed the clash in Rangers’ favour as James Tavernier netted from the penalty spot.

Midfielder McHugh was given a second yellow card for handball after he blocked an Andy Halliday shot inside the area.

But it was the controversial call to book the Irishman for a challenge on striker Morelos that really irked boss Robinson, who was sent off for a dugout altercation in the aftermath of the spot kick call.

Robinson said: “I thought it was a penalty. The letter of the law suggests that he needs to be sent off.

“But the first booking is a disgrace. It’s embarrassing.

“And I have to say referees are getting conned by the same people. He has to send him off after he has booked him, but he shouldn’t have booked him.

“Having said that, it certainly wasn’t the reason we went on and lost six goals. I think a lot of people are looking for excuses today.

“I am certainly not going to hide behind a referee. I don’t want that to be the headline.

“We can do so much better than we did defensively. It was hard to take for 45 minutes.

“I am not going to talk about individual players. Certain players get away with certain things every week. They have a hard task if they are getting fouled all the time every week.

“It wasn’t a free-kick in the first place, it certainly wasn’t a yellow card. He was given the yellow card for continual fouling. But that wasn’t a foul. So work that one out.”