St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson could not understand the penalty award that helped Motherwell secure a 3-3 Clydesdale Bank Premier League draw in Paisley.

Ross Forbes netted Motherwell's first goal from the spot in the 49th minute after Hugh Murray was adjudged to have fouled Jim O'Brien. An explanation from referee Stevie O'Reilly failed to make things clearer for MacPherson as the St Mirren contingent insisted Murray had played the ball.

"I still don't understand it but we have got to accept it," MacPherson said. "It's in the box but it's not a foul. The referee has given a penalty for the challenge. It wasn't handball, it hit Lee Mair in the face."

MacPherson's biggest disappointment though was the loss of a two-goal lead in the final 16 minutes as Lukas Jutkiewicz struck a well-taken double.

Andy Dorman had restored St Mirren's lead and Hugh Murray netted his second goal in the 72nd minute but Well hit back immediately.

"Without a shadow of a doubt it's two points dropped," MacPherson said. "The first half we have played really, really well. We worked extremely hard to put pressure on Motherwell as high up the park as we could. We should have been more ahead.

"I'm not going to say the penalty changed the game but it gave Motherwell hope.

"But we got ourselves into a winning position and that's the disappointment. We have not defended as well as we had done recently.

"The first one was just a simple ball into the box and we let it take a couple of bounces. That just gave Motherwell hope they could get something, which they did."