Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell lamented his defence for allowing Lawrence Shankland a free header to put Heart of Midlothian in the lead at Tynecastle Park.

The Steelmen fell to a 2-0 loss in Gorgie with Kettlewell "100 per cent" of the view that the second goal shouldn't have stood.

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"There is real frustration with what feels like our Achilles heel," he said. “You have the top marksman in the country who is absolutely flying at the moment and we give him the freedom of our box. It’s good delivery into our box but, and I said this to the players, you can deal with these moments to 95% of the game at venues like these and you need to be 100% in a game like this. We switch off. It’s a good ball and a good header but It’s avoidable from our point of view.

“It’s frustrating also because of one or two of the opportunities we have in the game. We have the best two chances of the first half with Jack Vale and young Lennon Miller going through on goal.

“Lennon takes the shot too early and should probably push it another yard or so towards goal, but I’m not going to be overly critical of him. Sometimes in the development phase of a player that’s the nature of the beast."

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Hearts secured the victory with a ferocious Kenneth Vargas strike. Kettlewell believes there was a foul in the build-up.

"I have watched it back from a couple of angles and the referee has officiated the game in a way when every type of contact like that has been a foul. Every time there has been a brush of players or someone leaning in, it has been a foul. There was one in the second half with Adam Devine with [Yutaro] Oda at the back post.

“I was fully expecting him to blow for a foul because it was in-keeping with the way the game was officiated. I felt it was 100% a foul before their second goal."