Motherwell boss Craig Brown admitted to throwing a punch after being pushed by Kim Brink, one of the Danish side's directors, during their 1-0 second-leg defeat. Brown was spoken to by the police after the altercation with a visiting Odense official during his side's Europa League exit at Fir Park.

The 70 year old, whose side missed a host of chances as they fell to a 3-1 aggregate defeat, said: "The police have spoken to us. I think it was their sporting director that got a bit carried away.

"I don't know why but he came to our dugout. I think he was a bit displeased.

"We had a wee bit of a disagreement, putting it euphemistically. I got a shove and I had a retaliatory punch.

"I'm a calm guy but if anyone is old enough to remember when I played the game, I was accused of being quite aggressive.

"I don't want to get messed about and I wasn't going to be messed about.

"The police spoke to me and they spoke to him afterwards. They are taking no further action and he has apologised, he said it was uncharacteristic and the police thought it was not behaviour befitting a visiting official.

"They asked me if I wanted to take the thing any further and I said no.

"You want to keep these things in football and, anyway, it could have been the other way around."

Brown was able to see the funny side of the incident.

"I fancied myself," he said. "If it had been Archie Knox he might not have wanted to continue the dialogue.

"It wasn't a big deal, it was handbags. I don't know what his problem was, I think he was annoyed we got a penalty.

"I don't why because we were calm throughout the match." Brown felt his side should have progressed after missing numerous chances, including Jamie Murphy's penalty, against nine-man Odense.

"Over the two legs, we were the better team," Brown said. "But I would rather have a lucky victory than get the credit for getting a defeat.

"We did well without getting a wee break or having the clinical finish required."