CHIPPENHAM Town were on the wrong side of three poor refereeing decisions on Tuesday night, according to manager Gary Horgan, following a 1-0 defeat away to Hampton and Richmond Borough in National League South.

The Bluebirds were denied two penalties – one in each half – while Hampton and Richmond were awarded a spot-kick for a debatable foul on Temi Babalola midway through the opening period.

Tommy Block slammed the ball past Will Henry from 12 yards, and Chippenham failed to find a way past Borough’s number one in the remaining 70 minutes.

The closest Chippenham came was via a Luke Russe header in the 61st minute, but the effort skimmed off the crossbar and out.

Frustrated about his side’s lack of luck, Horgan remained pleased with the way Chippenham played throughout.

He said: “The only disappointing thing was the result, really. I thought the performance was quite good.

“We dominated possession for large parts, and ultimately, we’ve been on the wrong end of a soft penalty decision for them at the one end while not getting two penalties that we felt we should have been given at the other.

“We hit the bar as well, so we felt that we’d done enough to at least get a point away from home on a Tuesday night. But I suppose it could be seen as swings and roundabouts.

“If you talk about things evening themselves out, I know Oxford City were aggrieved when we got a penalty the week before. Maybe that was the season evening itself out.”

The Bluebirds’ next opportunity to bounce back comes on Saturday in the form of an FA Cup second qualifying-round tie at home to Southern League Division One South leaders Sholing.

The Hampshire-based outfit was unbeaten until an FA Trophy exit to Lymington Town on Tuesday, and Horgan is adamant his squad will remain on full alert in a bid to avoid a repeat of last season’s double cup exit to lower-league opposition.

Horgan said: “There are never any easy games in the FA Cup, for sure, and Sholing are going really, really well in their own league.

“Given what happened to us last year in both the FA Cup and FA Trophy – we played sides two divisions below us and exited the competition both times – we’re looking to avoid a repeat of that.

“Sholing are a very good side anyway, and they’ve got players who could quite easily step up and play at our level. They’ve got a tight-knit group of players there, and it will be a really tough test.”