Spartans right back Shaun Utterson was still struggling to come to terms with the decision not to award his side a penalty in the 2-3 loss against league leaders North Ferriby United. Utterson was brought down in the United area by winger Ryan Williams at the start of the second half but referee Peart waved away the protests. However Utterson insists a penalty should have been awarded. He said “It was pretty much stonewall, I’ve went past their lad and he’s fallen to the ground, made contact with me and brought me down. I’ve spoken to the referee at the time and after the game and he’s said because he was already on the ground it wasn’t a penalty. Regardless of whether he was on the ground or not he has made contact and it’s a penalty.”
Utterson was keen to stress that there were positives for Spartans to take from the defeat as they pushed the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League’s form side all the way coming within inches of a deserved equaliser on three occasions in the last ten minutes. He said “We battled well and we did well to go in level given the high wind against us in the first half. In the second half we have played well but we need to stop giving sloppy goals away. We scored two great goals and Ryan is a finisher and he has got reward for his hard working attitude.”
Whilst December was a tough month for Spartans as they played a number of the league’s title and play off challengers and looking ahead many would say Spartans have an easier run of games. That was a notion that Utterson was at pains to dismiss saying “Hopefully we can pick up some points and get ourselves back on track. The squad is getting bigger with new lads coming in and players returning from injury so we have to get some consistency but if there is one thing we know it’s that there are no easy games in this league and we need to be at our best to take points against anyone.”