Referee Willie Collum sent Stuart Kettlewell to the stand during the 1-0 defeat

Ross County co-manager Stuart Kettlewell has been given a six-match ban after grabbing the fourth official during his side's Scottish Championship defeat at Morton last month.

Three of those matches are suspended until the end of this year.

Kettlewell accepted breaching Rule 203 by "committing misconduct" and Rule 206 by making "physical contact with an official in an aggressive manner".

County are three points clear of Ayr United at the top of the Championship.

In a statement, County said: "Stuart attended the hearing in person as he took the matter very seriously, he has admitted the allegations and is keen to move forward and learn from the experience."

His co-manager Steven Ferguson later added that while County have accepted the punishment, "there are questions to be asked about how they came to that [decision]".

"Our take on it was the player left the field of play and pushed Stuart," he told BBC Scotland's Sportsound. "Then in the kerfuffle after that, the fourth official is standing in Stuart's space. He is leaning on Stuart and it is very difficult not to have any contact when somebody has backed into you.

"So it is about how you see it. We have accepted the punishment, we take it and we move on. But there are definitely two sides to every argument.

"Because the referees are under so much pressure just now, it is very much 'round up the wagons, make sure they stick together and try to get through this difficult period'."