Freeland was at the centre of more controversy, days after St Mirren objected to his officiating at their Scottish Cup replay against Dundee United.

Irons claimed his side were denied a "blatant" late penalty against their landlords, which could have changed the game.

Freeland waved away the bottom side's protests when striker Kenny Deuchar was pushed by Motherwell centre-back Stephen Craigan with the score at 2-1 in the closing minutes of the game.

And Ross McCormack hit his second goal of the game shortly afterwards to give Motherwell a two-goal margin of victory over their tenants, who were officially the home side at Fir Park.

Irons said: "In my eyes it was as blatant a push in the back as we've seen this season, but the referee doesn't give it - then 30 seconds later he gives one for less of a push outside the box.

"It's supposed to make you feel better but it doesn't change things.

"Call me biased or say I'm watching the game through black-and-white glasses, but as far as I'm concerned, when it came to the big decisions that influence games he didn't make the right decisions.

"I asked to speak to him and he has refused, so what chance do you have?

"After the game I knocked on the door and he said, 'Come back in 10 minutes'.

"I went back and he said, 'I'm busy', and shut the door. It's frustrating and I'll be asking the SFA about it."

Irons added: "Coaches and managers don't have any right to influence who referees games and I don't agree with what has gone on this week, but he is dealing with people whose livelihoods are at stake.

"They're fighting for their lives and if people want to referee at this level they've got to take the flak that goes with it."

While Motherwell climbed to third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, Gretna's defeat leaves them nine points adrift at the bottom.

Irons described the result as "very hard to take" after Gretna fought back to 2-1 and fought hard for a late equaliser.

He said: "The first half wasn't a great performance on our part.

"We lost a goal which I thought was offside and lost a goal two minutes into the second half, but we got back into the game very quickly and looked like getting the next goal until certain individuals influenced the game.

"I'm proud of the players' spirit and attitude; at times they don't think there's any light at the end of the tunnel, but every single one of them keeps going.

"They'll be better for this experience wherever they play their football because they've shown tremendous attitude and spirit to keep fighting, typified by the second-half performance."

Motherwell counterpart Mark McGhee admitted his team's victory was "untidy" but stressed they deserved the win which moved them above Dundee United, who drew at Inverness.

McGhee claimed the return of striker Chris Porter from a knee injury made a difference to his side, and also had praise for wideman Darren Smith.

But he admitted that the clubs' shared pitch, a section of which was recently relaid, remains a problem.

McGhee said: "We had early chances, like a couple of headers which I thought we really should have scored.

"We should have made it a bit more comfortable for ourselves than we did and could have drawn the game in the end, but I don't think we need to be embarrassed about winning it.

"You realise when you see Chris what a difference he can make to the way we can play, especially in these conditions - the pitch is diabolical and it's causing us as many problems as it's causing anyone else.

"A lot of the mistakes that were made by both teams were down to the pitch, but Porter is an outlet for us because you can take a much more aerial route and he keeps the ball or wins it so he's very important for us.

"We had planned to take him off at 2-0. But when it went 2-1 we felt we needed to keep him out there.

"Ross McCormack's goals will do him good, and I was pleased with Darren Smith. In the past six or eight weeks, he has matured into a player that we can rely on because in his position you need to know what you're going to get.

"We put him out there because we felt we had to broaden the game because of the pitch and couldn't be as intricate; we had to give ourselves larger margin for error."