NEIL Young was left fuming by the ‘massive error’ he believes cost Chester FC the chance of extending their lead at the top to seven points.

The furious Blues boss aimed a fresh blast at the standard of officiating in the league after what would have been a winning Jerome Wright goal was controversially ruled out for offside at Chasetown on Saturday.

Young, whose side’s lead at the summit was cut to five points as a result of the 1-1 draw, said: “We can’t make excuses for the chances we’ve missed because we should have put the game to bed.

“But at times it’s beyond belief some of the decisions you see at this level of football. We talk about respect but at some stage the officials have got to stand up and be counted for their role in the game.

“Jerome must have been five or six yards onside. Jerome ran past two players to get to the other side, he dispatched the ball and then the linesman put his flag up. Fair play to the referee he went over and said, ‘is he the lad who ran past him?,’ and the linesman said, ‘yes, but he was offside’.

“Unless the rules have changed and you’ve now got to be 10 yards onside to be offside, then I don’t know why it was disallowed. It was a massive error.”

Of equal disappointment to Young was Chester’s finishing and their marking for Chasetown’s 83rd-minute equaliser.

A poor match came to life in the 49th minute when Antoni Sarcevic cleverly lifted the ball over the home defence and sent a clinical 18-yard strike into the bottom corner.

From that moment on the Blues dominated. They were unable, however, to find a way past the inspired Ryan Smith.

Chester, who lost captain George Horan to a broken nose during the match, are at home to Buxton on Saturday (3pm).