DANNY Scopes was left frustrated after a late penalty consigned Concord Rangers to a 1-0 defeat against Chippenham Town.

Southend United youngster Tom Clifford, who was making his debut following a loan move, conceded a late penalty which was converted by Luke Hopper.

And Beach Boys boss Scopes felt Concord were hard done by.

“It was a dubious penalty and the player was quite smart in that situation,” said Scopes.

“The penalty was harsh and, after Tom stuck a toe into the tackle, the forward jumped over his leg and went down.

“The referee paused, thinking about whether to give the penalty, and he pointed to the spot after a few shouts and screams.

“We had appeals turned down for a penalty at the other end when there was more contact, so that made it even more frustrating.”

The Beach Boys thought they had taken the lead on the hour mark as Decarrey Sheriff converted, but the striker was ruled offside and the effort was disallowed.

Lamar Reynolds was then denied by Chippenham goalkeeper Will Ruddy before the visitors were awarded a penalty.

Hopper’s powerful spot-kick, with just nine minutes remaining, just evaded Concord goalkeeper Chris Haigh and Scopes’ side were unable to hit back.

Scopes added: “We put in a good performance and there were a lot of positives to take from the game despite the result.

“There were things we spoke about that had let us down in recent weeks and we eradicated those elements of our game.

“We didn’t make many mistakes and passed the ball around well.

“I thought we created some really good chances and had a goal ruled out for offside which looked as if it was a tight call.

“The down side is that we didn’t manage to score a goal when, on another day, we could have scored three or four.”