Harrogate Town were denied 'blatant' penalty during Gillingham FC draw, insists Simon Weaver

Sulphurites striker Josh March’s 40th-minute spot-kick broke the deadlock at Wetherby Road, with visiting defender Max Clark converting from 12 yards to level things up midway through the second period.

But March should have also been given a penalty early on when he went down inside the box under contact from Sam Gale. Instead, Town’s leading marksman was booked by referee David Rock for apparent simulation.

Substitute Tom Cursons was also caught from behind in the box by Gale later in the game in a coming together that was very similar to the one which Mr Rock immediately blew up for when he handed the Gills their chance to equalise.

The man in the middle was however unmoved by Harrogate’s appeals, with Weaver far from impressed with his overall performance.

"The first incident, it 100 percent was a penalty. Without a doubt,” the Town boss said.

“I am not just giving an emotional response after the game, I've seen it back. I actually watched it at half-time and how that has been given a yellow card, I really don't know.

"Marchy is unlucky. It looks a blatant penalty, but he’s got booked for simulation. I think that was an error.

"It is guesswork. It's a lottery sometimes at this level. You’re expecting the flag to go across the linesman's chest and the referee to point to the spot, but you never really know.

"It was a bit chaotic. Sometimes the whistle was blown and you could just tell that he wasn’t sure which way he was going to give it, so he gave himself a bit of breathing space and in the end just followed his arm, whichever way it was pointing.”

Weaver was however quick to state that he had no issue with the decision to penalise Jack Muldoon after Oli Hawkins went down inside the Town area to earn the Gills their 68th-minute leveller.

"Gillingham’s penalty looked it,” he admitted. “On that occasion, I thought that it was probably the right decision.

“That’s fine, you want the decisions to all go your way, but you have to be rational sometimes and say ‘that was the right decision’.

"I thought that both penalty decisions were correct from where I was standing, but I just thought that the first incident 100 percent was a penalty.”

The spot-kick that Harrogate were awarded arrived after March raced through on goal and was taken down by visiting stopper Glenn Morris as he took the ball around him.

Town’s number 24 then dusted himself down and sent Morris the wrong way as he rolled the ball into the bottom corner.

Saturday’s result keeps the Sulphurites 21st in the League Two standings, with the gap to the relegation zone trimmed to nine points following second-from-bottom Morecambe’s 1-0 home win over Swindon.