Jon McCarthy refused to acknowledge there is ‘negativity’ between himself and the Chester supporters after he faced calls to resign in the wake of a 2-0 defeat against Macclesfield Town.

The Blues produced a limp performance and were roundly booed off at full-time, with fans calling for McCarthy to step down as manager, who criticised the press pack for 'having an agenda' against him.

“I’m disappointed (with that question), we’ve won at Aldershot so we’ve tried to do the same thing again,” he said.

“I’ve tried to mention the numbers. You (the press) know exactly what you’re doing and the fans have been amazing. You’ve tried to create negativity between me and the fans, I’ve never had negativity towards them.

“You did an article in the summer where you tried to create negativity between me and the fans. I’ve been nothing but positive and I turned that situation around with the signings we brought in and the fans have been brilliant. I called for them again, they sang for me and you must’ve seen me acknowledge that right throughout the game.

“It’s unfair to create that type of relationship. If you’ve got an agenda then that’s fine but I’ve not got an agenda, I completely support this football club. 

“It was a tired performance, everything was flat, we never got the energy levels going that we wanted. The fans were outstanding, they sang and sang to get us going.

“All I can offer up is it’s tired performance. We have 13 or 14 fit players, but I got a result, a win, two days ago and I’ll take your 14 games and say we ended Aldershot’s run of 14 home games (with defeat).”

Craig Mahon also had his say on the home side’s performance, tweeting: “No excuses today. not good enough. Can point finger at others but when it comes down to it as players not good enough.”