MacPherson will hasten efforts to sign a central defender

St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson refused to "give the limelight" to referee Eddie Smith after a controversial 1-0 defeat by Celtic.

Smith sent off Will Haining and awarded a penalty to Celtic after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink tumbled under pressure.

"There is no point in speaking about referees - they like the attention," MacPherson told BBC Radio Scotland.

"I think other people need to comment on it because people are watching how managers react."

MacPherson chose his words carefully after a week when referees secured a review of their pay after demanding at least �800 per Scottish Premier League game.

We asked them to be brave and play the ball and maybe, with a bit of luck, we could have taken something from the game St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson

"When you hear of referees' summits with managers' pictures up on screens, talking about individual managers, you shake your head and wonder what is going on in the game," he said.

"But I refuse to comment and give the limelight to the referee.

"I will talk about St Mirren players. I thought the St Mirren players were outstanding from the first minute to the last.

"If they play that way for the rest of the season, we will be delighted.

"We asked them to be brave and play the ball and maybe, with a bit of luck, we could have taken something from the game."

MacPherson has said he is close to securing the services of two more players, one a central defender.

"It has been ongoing for a number of weeks, but the sending off might just speed the process up as we need to get someone in before next Saturday," he said.