Jens Berthel Askou: Motherwell must trust process after goal ruled out in draw

Jens Berthel Askou believes Motherwell have to trust the process after Elijah Just had a goal ruled out by VAR in their goalless William Hill Premiership draw at home to Hibernian, but joked he hoped the lines were not drawn by a five-year-old.

The disappointed Fir Park boss also thinks Just may need a new shirt for the visit by Falkirk in a fortnight as it had so much blood on it following a collision.

Just struck after 23 minutes, smashing the ball into the bottom-left corner before it was ruled offside as the stalemate saw Motherwell remain fourth in table and six points above their opponents.

Askou said of Just’s effort: “From the angles I’ve seen, I can’t see that they’re an offside, so it’s that close that you have to draw some lines.

“You have to trust the system, that it’s not drawn by a five-year-old who is learning to use a pencil for the first time and that it’s spot-on, but that’s how it is.

“Offside is offside and it’s just unfortunate that (we weren’t able to take) some of those moments in a tight game like this.”

Just went off – five minutes from time when he was replaced by Eythor Bjorgolfsson – and Askou added: “Eli is fine. The kit man needs to make him a new shirt, I don’t think he can clean the one he has, because he had blood all over it.

“He got caught, got his nose in the way of someone and that’s what happens.

“We thought it was a good opportunity because we needed to make a sub there to make some freshness and put big Eythor in to see if we could get a chance from his presence in the box.

“It looked like the player who went in for the tackle got the ball first and caught Eli afterwards…there were a lot of intense duels throughout the game.

“We knew it was going to be a game like that, against a team that also invests a lot of intensity in the game.”

The result leaves Motherwell in pole position for a European slot next season and Askou added: “It’s a big thing for us this season, to make sure they are behind us in about eight weeks when the season ends.

“Then there is one game less before the season ends and if we can keep this cap for now until the end of the season, we will be OK, I hope, in this position.”

Hibs boss David Gray said: “We came here today knowing what’s at stake. We’re chasing the team directly above us, three points, we’ve still to play them twice in that chase for fourth place.

“We came to win the game and we got a point, but we’ve not lost any ground.

“There’s still a lot of football to be played, that’s what I’ve just reminded the players about.

“As much as it was about trying to win today, we’ve not lost any ground on the team above us.”