Caley Thistle midfielder David Carson was at a loss to explain how he was penalised for handball in the League Cup tie with Motherwell.
Carson remonstrated with referee Kevin Clancy at length after he was punished for the Steelmen’s second penalty in the 4-0 loss at Fir Park.
Inverness felt Clancy had missed two fouls in the build-up to the spot-kick award, as well as the ball striking Carson without him even realising where it had hit him.
They had little complaint about the scoreline but Caley Thistle and Carson both were left perplexed by some of Clancy’s calls.
“Wallace Duffy has got his body in front and I’m there he clearly pushed me in the chest,” said Carson. “I’ve gone down on the floor and as I’m getting up the ball struck me, I don’t know where the ball is and referee gave the penalty.
“He missed two fouls and then gave a handball which was never a penalty but he makes the decisions and we have to get on with it.
“I’m not the man that makes decisions, I reckon it is the wrong decision but we can’t change anything. In the second half we started well, they were on top and took the stuffing out of us. We were three goals behind but they scored their fourth and it killed off the game.”
The Caley Jags are also running low on numbers after Wednesday’s defeat, with Carson himself limping late on in the game. They were already missing Austin Samuels, George Oakley, Tom Walsh, Sean Welsh and Max Ram prior to the game, with Roddy MacGregor also going off injured.
It means a few players may be playing through the pain barrier for Saturday’s game against Raith Rovers.
“We have just got to get on with what we can and pull ourselves through it,” said Carson. “I hope our players can get back and we can go again on Saturday.
“The effort was there, yes we conceded poor goals but the boys dug in. We conceded poor goals and poor referee decisions. But we dust ourselves down and be ready for Saturday.”