BASINGSTOKE Town manager Terry Brown felt his side were robbed of a point, by visiting Southern League leaders Chippenham Town as they won 2-1.

The Dragons had roared back from conceding in the opening two minutes, to level things only to trail again 2-1 going into the second half.

Then 30 minutes after the break, Brown saw his star striker Aaron Jarvis hauled to the ground by Will Richards.

Most in the ground expected a penalty to be awarded, but referee James Durkin waved play on, saying after the game he felt the players had come to together.

However, this left Brown furious and he saw the incident, like most in the ground, very differently.

Brown said: “We have been robbed today. It was a stonewall penalty and some very poor refereeing. Aaron was being pulled down from the other side.

“It it is a shame as it was a really great performance, but a rubbish result.”

“We will take the positives out of the game and look to go again on Tuesday night against Dunstable.” For the visit of Chippenham, Basingstoke made one change to their starting line-up with Nana Owusu coming in for Charlie Kennedy, while on the subs bench was new teenage loanee defender from Reading Terence van Cooten.

The home side got off to the worst possible start, as the visiting Bluebirds scored after two minutes.

This was from a low shot from the edge of the area from Matt Smith.

The home side hit back almost immediately, as Dan Collier’s shot was spilled by Darren Chitty. Ashleigh Artwell, was the fastest to react, and tapped in.

However, with 12 minutes gone, the visitors led again as the home goalie Alex Tokarczyk came rushing out of his area and was caught in no man’s land. This gave Andy Sandell the chance to take the ball past him and slot into the empty net.

Once again, the Dragons roared back looking for an equaliser, and Collier again set-up Artwell and only a great save and goal line clearance from Nuno Felix stopped him scoring.

The home side then went close again, as Matt Partridge’s header hit a post and then Smith tested the woodwork at the other end as the visitors still led at the break.

Just after the interval, Basingstoke felt there was a handball in the Chippenham area, but nothing was given and from this Collier fired just over the bar.

The home side were certainly matching the league leaders, but the Bluebirds always looked dangerous, especially leading goal scorer in the league Sandell.

The striker forced Tokarczyk into a great save from a volley and also from a header from the resulting corner.

Then on the 70 minute mark, Brown decided to change the Basingstoke formation as striker Aaron Redford and new signing van Cooten came on, as wing backs Marcus Johnson Schuster and George Bennett were replaced.

This saw the Dragons go to a 3-5-2 formation from a 4-2-3-1 and minutes later it looked to have done the trick, as Jarvis was hauled down in the area, but despite the appeals, again no penalty was forthcoming.

The home side continued to try and get an equaliser and with five minutes left a bad back pass let in Sandell. However, the striker took far too much time and his effort was cleared off the line by new boy van Cooten.

Soon after, a whipped in corner from Basingstoke’s Sam Deadfield was punched onto the back of Jarvis and went to safety.

In the final few minutes, Chippenham kept the ball deep in the Basingstoke half, stopping them having any chance of getting a late equaliser.

The Dragons have just two days to lick their wounds and will go again on Tuesday night.

They will be at home to Dunstable, who are 15th in the table, three places below Basingstoke.

Brown will reshuffle his line-up with van Cooten set to make his first start of the club.