Spartans manager Graham Fenton laments controversial 90th minute penalty and 200 mile journey in Chester FC defeat

Although Spartans looked the livelier side before the break, Chester took the lead in the 55th minute when Weeks’ intricate through ball found the advancing Caton, who was able to slot the ball home past Mitchell.

Spartans were forced to defend ten minutes later, as Cousin-Dawson made a timely sliding challenge to prevent Murray from cutting the ball back from a dangerous position, and Mitchell was forced to make a sharp low stop when Weeks fired the rebound towards goal from close range.

But Spartans were able to claw one back in the 85th minute when JJ Hooper popped up to stick one in the net, having been teed up by an exquisite back heel from McGowan.

Spartans looked to have salvaged a draw and could have taken the lead themselves, had Forbes kept his volley from a McGowan corner a few inches lower.

Yet it was the hosts who would have the final say as Elliott Whitehorse went to ground and the referee pointed to the spot. Whitehorse sent Mitchell the wrong way to clinch three points for The Seals.

Spartans manager Graham Fenton said it was “disappointing” to lose the game that way, and questioned the referee’s decision.

He said: “When you are getting a decision like that, at that stage in the game, the referee has to be 100%.

“I can tell it was not a 100% penalty because their staff said it was not and their players said it was not.

“You are kind of going, ‘is he making up for the penalty that they possibly should have had?’ That does not make it right. Two wrongs do not make a right.

“It looks like he has just given a soft penalty because he probably got one wrong earlier.

“From our point of view it was a decent away performance but not quite where we need to be to come and get really positive results at places like this.”

The manager’s assessment was the 90 travelling Spartans fans deserved at least a point to celebrate on the long journey home, but admitted “we were not at our best” and suspected levels had dropped by about 10% since their midweek win over Farsley Celtic.

Fenton was left “without a doubt” that the 200-mile journey to the game had an impact on his players’ preparation, and called for the club to take a more professional approach to away travel.

He said: “Obviously I am going to have a chat with the board now. We need to start staying over.

“We cannot be setting off at eight o’clock in the morning and expecting the lads to be at 100%.

“I have said it time after time since I came into this club. We have to be more professional.

“However we do it, we have to get the money to stay in hotels away from home on long journeys.

“It was not a massive drop off but those little percentages matter, and that is what happened today.”