Chester FC took part in a different kind of training session on Monday afternoon with former Premier League referee Steve Dunn.

The Blues are the first club outside of the Premier League and Football League to take up the offer of a meeting with one of football's leading match officials.

Bristol-based Dunn refereed his first Premiership match in 1995 and spent 10 years in the top flight, reaching the Fifa list in 1997 and refereeing the 2001 FA Cup final.

He now works as a matchday coach for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organisation responsible for recruiting, appointing, training and developing referees.

He spoke at length with manager Steve Burr and his squad about issues players have experienced, the role of match officials and highlighted some common areas of confusion.

Topics covered included communication, the relationship between referees and players, game control and how the laws of the game are interpreteted.

The Chester FC squad took part in a training session with Steve Dunn
The Chester FC squad took part in a training session with Steve Dunn

Video footage from games at the National League and above was shown to the squad, who were then asked what their decision would have been.

Decisions from Chester's game this season were also discussed, including Ben Heneghan's red card at Woking and the penalty awarded to Forest Green Rovers at the weekend.

Burr said afterwards: "It was a very interesting session and we're very grateful to Steve Dunn for visiting and spending time with us.

"Referee's on any given day will give their opinions on a decision and no matter how much we don't like it, once a decision is made you've got to abide by it.

"It was interesting to clear up one or two issues regarding the laws of the game where he gave us a good insight to that. I'm sure the lads have gone off a bit more knowledgeable about the referee's job.

"There were a couple of interesting situations we saw with the handball rule. The lads saw the clip from Bristol Rovers versus Woking last year where it looked like Bristol had conceded a penalty and it wasn't given. I think 99% of the lads apart from John Hunt said it wasn't a penalty so it just shows you the difference in opinions on different things.

"Referee's have got a difficult job but I like to pride myself on a club and a team that have a good disciplinary record.

"If you look this season, our disciplinary record has been reasonably good. We had Ben sent-off and that was a lad who legitimately trying to make a tackle, he mistimed it and in today's game you get sent-off.

"It's a very fine line but even Steve Dunn did feel there were cards given out a little bit too cheaply these days but that's something that's just part and parcel of the game now."