'Body blow' - Halifax boss claims Chesterfield's late winner in controversial clash should not have stood

Referee Aaron Jackson sent off Spireites boss Paul Cook and midfielder Tom Naylor, as well as the Shaymen’s Adam Senior.

Both camps had reasons to be angered by the performance of Jackson who totally lost control of the game, particularly in the second-half.

Millington believes Jackson got the decision to award his team a penalty correct, which Blues coach Danny Webb agreed with, but the Halifax boss had doubts about some of his other decisions, feeling they should have been given another spot-kick and that Joe Quigley’s 91st minute winner should have been ruled out, calling it a ‘real body blow’.

"I felt we were denied a penalty in the first-half when Milli Alli's drifted past his man, he's got wrong side of him and received a shoulder in the back," Millington told the Halifax Courier.

"Milli Alli is not going down in the box when he's got the ball at his feet and he's driving at goal unless somebody brings him down, and it was clearly a shoulder in the back that brought him down. So I felt we should have gone in 2-2 because of that.”

Quigley came off the bench to score the winner, the third time he has done that already this season, but Millington claimed it should not have counted.

He explained: "I don't underestimate the challenge of refereeing a game like that where both teams were absolutely fully committed and the atmosphere was electric, both sets of supporters were right on their mettle, they were fantastic, so I don't underestimate how difficult it is to referee that.

"But I also believe that there was a foul on Jo Cummings in the build-up to Chesterfield's winner, the players are certain, it looked like it to me, it looked like it was a clear foul.

"For the ref not to give that at such a crucial moment in such a crucial area of the pitch when it's a foul on our last man, it feels like a real body blow that."

And Millington also had doubts about whether Senior should have been sent off for his challenge on James Berry.

He said: “Adam's committed to try and win the ball back, he hasn't. Is it a red card? I'm not sure, the players are telling me there was some disagreement between the officials in that the linesman thought it was a yellow and the ref immediately went for a red.

"I'll have to see that back to be absolutely clear, but look, we've got beat, we have to take our medicine, and learn our lessons because there are definitely things we need to do better."

On the game as a whole, Millington said it was a ‘good advert for the National League.’

He continued: “I felt we were good for a draw tonight and we had a real strong chance of going on to win the game.

"Clearly we're at a place where there's a very good group of players, a crowd who are really up because of where the team is in the division, and the way they're playing because they play an exciting brand of football and every game seems to be a 3-2 or a 4-3.

"So we knew we were going to have to be prepared to deal with some of their threats, the threat in the wide area is definitely something you have to deal with when you come to Chesterfield, and also set-pieces, they've scored more goals off set-pieces this season so far than they've scored using any other method.

"We'd prepared thoroughly for those two threats but we knew some of their vulnerabilities - the high line, we knew that'd be an opportunity for us and we felt, as the game went on and their pressing dropped in intensity, we'd have the opportunity to dominate possession a bit more and I think that's how it worked out.”

He added: "Clearly it's frustrating to go 1-0 down and I couldn't see the goal very clearly because it was on the far side, so I'm not exactly sure on the passage of play and how they unpicked us, but it looked from my side like a really slick move, ball goes across the box and a fairly simple finish for a very good footballer.

"So that was frustrating to concede so early, and then conceding off a set-piece when we know what a threat they carry off set-pieces, and we'd prepared to the best of our ability to deal with them. Their lad was just more committed to winning the first contact than ours.”