Early in the second half, after Paul Sullivan’s shot was initially cleared by a Vics’ defender, Tesfa Robinson fired a goalbound effort beyond visiting keeper Steve Dickenson and defender Jack Duggan clearly handled the ball to tip the ball over the crossbar.

The home players and supporters appealed vociferously and it appeared for a split second that Referee Mr Hobday was about to point to the penalty spot. Northwich players then surrounded the referee who consulted his Assistant and awarded a corner kick instead.

The injustice was exacerbated with Northwich players admitting to the fans that they had got away with it and the defender himself admitted his indiscretion on his twitter account.

Chasetown had played well against the side that had dumped them out of the Doodson Sport League Cup 5-1. Early on, Mark Branch curled a free kick inches wide of Dickenson’s right hand post and a superb cross from Theo Robinson was unbelievably not converted by Nick Wellecomme. The ball struck Wellecomme’s thigh and flew towards the left-hand post where Duggan cleared off the line albeit with his foot this time!

Neither keeper were overly troubled throughout the ninety minutes which
was stop-start with Chasetown’s Chris Slater and Northwich’s skipper Ricky Mercer both down injured for lengthy periods of the first half in separate incidents. Slater re-emerged with a bandage round his head with six minutes stoppage time played in the first period.

Northwich took the lead just four minutes before half-time when Chasetown keeper Ryan Price crashed his clearance straight into Gary McEvatt. The ball could have gone anywhere but, fortunately for the Cheshire side, fell straight to the midfielder’s feet and he rolled the ball into the empty net.

That apart, other than an early save from Dickenson from Paul Sullivan, and a second half save from Ryan Price there was little to write home about, with the game over-shadowed by the second half penalty that never was.

Manager Craig Harris was full of praise for his players at full time commending them for their reaction to the penalty decision. Despite the clear injustice, Chasetown, who top the Fair Play League in the Evo-Stik Division One South, voiced their initial appeals but avoided any dissent for the eventual decision and got on with the game.

Chasetown: Price, Farmer, Branch (Butler, 84 mins), Slater, Bate, Tesfa Robinson, Westwood (Gould, 78 mins), Bragoli, Wellecomme, Sullivan (Hay, 66 mins), Theo Robinson

Other subs: Jackson, Teesdale (not used)