Jon McCarthy was ‘frustrated’ the Blues were unable to hold on for a point at Gateshead on Saturday.

Chester shaded the first half, stifling a side fancied to be in the promotion mix and taking the lead through the tireless Craig Hobson on 28 minutes.

Some careless passing in the second period allowed the Heed to gain the upper hand and the pressure told with Jon Shaw levelling from the spot on 67 minutes and Jamie Chandler blasting home the winner 10 minutes from time.

“We’re disappointed that we’re not taking any points back with us,” said McCarthy, who was unhappy with the penalty given for Danny Harrison impeding Shaw.

“I won’t go on about penalty decision, I’ll let you talk about that, which has a big impact on the game and I think everybody knows that.

“I’ll talk about our performance in terms of what we’ve done and it was a good first half, really pleasing in terms of the way we played football against a team that are renowned for playing football.

“I don’t think we’re kidding ourselves or anybody that we outplayed them, passed the ball better than them, defended better than them and scored more goals than them in the first half, and that’s part of everything we’re building.

“We go into the second half and it’s disappointing because it was all about us performing for the full 90 minutes.

“We’re very frustrated for the lads in terms that we feel like we should be picking up more.”

McCarthy admitted the second half performance left him disappointed and gave Gateshead the chance to pin the Blues back.

Gary Mills' side created some good chances but were unable to convert them, and signs of frustration were beginning to show when referee Jason Whitely penalised Harrison for pulling Shaw to the ground at corner.

Shaw converted the spot kick and from then on it seemed only a matter of time before a second goal arrived.

"You're not in a position where you can go and criticise referees now, and that's right and I respect that and that's how it should be," said McCarthy.

"When the corner comes in everybody in the place knows it's not a penalty but they're that desperate because they're probing and they're all jumping up but they don't really believe there going to get a penalty and even the lad at the back post doesn't believe they're going to be a penalty.

"We come a long way and our fans do for that to happen but it's part of the game and they had some pressure building up to it which we shouldn't have allowed.

"We should've been better on the ball and when that happens you should see it out and go back with a point so they're elements of the game that we need to deal with and sort out and we'll try and cling on to some of the positives we've got in terms of our play, our progression and our performances."

Six games into the season and the Blues sit 17th in the Vanarama Conference table with one win, one draw and four defeats, although those have all come against teams in the top-six as it stands.

McCarthy said: “After these six games we’ve had a look at everybody, had a look at partnerships and we’re a lot clearer where we are now for what we believe is a really important seven games in September with some home games and some games that we feel like we should be winning.

“We’re not happy by any means with the results in terms of points but I think people who watch enough games will know there’s some progress there, but it needs to last longer for us to take something from games and that needs to happen.”