Theo Vassell believes the decision of the referee not to send off Dover Athletic's Ricky Miller on Saturday cost Chester FC dear.
Miller, who scored his 26 and 27 goals of the season on Saturday as the Whites beat the Blues 3-1, was lucky to still be on the pitch after escaping a second yellow card late in the first half.
After falling behind to a Miller penalty, Chester had restored parity through a superb curled effort from James Alabi and had their hosts on the ropes when Miller, already on a yellow card, put in a poorly-time challenge on Johnny Hunt, leaving the left-back writhing in agony.
But instead of showing the Dover talisman his marching orders, referee Neil Hair opted to keep his cards in his pocket, much to the dismay of the Chester bench.
Miller went on to bag another for Dover and help them to the three points that put them nine clear of Chester when a Blues win would have trimmed the gap between them and the play-off places to just three points.
Said Vassell: "The referee killed us a little bit, I thought he let them off quite a bit. I don't think we deserved to lose by that scoreline.
"You should be treating him (Miller) the same as if he hadn't been booked. If he hadn't had already been booked then he would have been booked.
"I don't think he deserved to be on the pitch. It's not acceptable."
A win at the Crabble Ground would have put Chester right in the mix for the play-offs ahead of this weekend's trip to Dagenham & Redbridge but now the Blues face a tall order to put themselves back in the frame.
"Obviously we are frustrated but there is still time to get up there," said Vassell.
"We have a game Saturday and if we win we are back to where we were.
"Look at the team we have got. We have got a good manager and staff and a good bunch of players and we can easily be up there.
"Look at Dover, if they can be up there then we definitely can."
"The game is gone now and we need to take it on the chin and concentrate on the next one."
