CONNELL RAWLINSON has thanked the Chester players for their efforts after a last-gasp goal saw their promotion dreams ended.
The Blues suffered a 2-1 defeat at Macclesfield in the opening stage of the National League North play-offs, bringing the curtain down on Chester’s season.
Interim boss Rawlinson told Chester FC TV: “I’ve just gone in there to the lads then and just spoke to them, and said... you won’t get any pointed fingers from me.
“I said what you’ve done for me and for the club, I said I couldn’t thank you enough. It’s been one hell of a ride.
“It wasn’t to be for us, unfortunately, and I learned how to lose a long time ago. I’ve been in this game a long, long time and when it comes to play-off games, I’ve played in 11, 12 of them over the years... it’s a lottery.
“So, you know, it hurts at the minute, it does, because we all wanted to do the impossible and get promoted.
“But, the lads can take great pride in what they’ve done there. Like real, real pride.
“We might not have won the play-offs, but I feel like we’ve won an elusive victory that when we took over, we didn’t think we were going to have.”
Rawlinson’s side looked set to take the tie into extra time, but John Rooney’s Macclesfield won it in dramatic circumstances as Luke Duffy’s corner flew into the net in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Chester, who finished the season in seventh spot, had the lead at the interval.
It was Connor Woods who found the target following good work from Tom Davies and Dylan Mottley-Henry.
The home side levelled midway through the second half via Josh Kay, before Duffy grabbed the dramatic winner.
Macclesfield will now head to Kidderminster Harriers.
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