DARLINGTON’S frustrating run continued yesterday when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Chorley, although it was the visitors’ boss who left Blackwell Meadows grumbling.

Matt Jansen was critical in his post-match assessment of Stockton-based referee John Matthews, claiming Quakers’ first goal should not have stood.

Most interestingly, however, Jansen was says Darlington, Blyth and Spennymoor have all benefitted from North-East officials giving them the “rub of the green” when his team has travelled to the region this season.

Chorley lost 2-0 at Blyth Spartans in September, when Dean Hulme of Northumberland was the man in the middle, and 1-0 at Spennymoor Town in October, when Adam Herczeg of Dunston was refereeing.

“This is another frustrating thing that gets me,” he told Chorley’s website, after saying Reece Styche’s 16th minute opening goal should have been ruled out.

“We’ve played against Spennymoor, we’ve played against Blyth and we’ve played against Darlington and every time we’ve played against them the referee and linesman are from the North-East.

“We don’t seem to get the rub of the green and we didn’t again today.

“Scott Leather was clearly fouled, we’re appealing for offside as well, but it wasn’t given along with a lot of decisions that weren’t given today.”

Officials from within the host club's region are usually selected for fixtures in the National League North - when Chorley beat Darlington 4-1 at home in September the referee was Alex Kirkley from Manchester.

However, Jansen had no qualms with the penalty given against his side, nor the red card shown to substitute Marcus Carver.

Chorley played the final 17 minutes – including the seven minutes of added on time – down to ten men after Carver was dismissed for receiving two bookings inside 60 seconds, while earlier in the second half Andy Teague conceded a spot-kick for tripping Joe Wheatley.

Jansen said: “Teague is saying he had a shout of ‘time’. I don’t know, he’s dwelled on it maybe a fraction of a second too long.

“I think it was a penalty, one of the few decisions that were given correctly.”