Mark Lawn believes steps must be taken to improve the quality of lower-league refereeing after City’s latest spot-kick saga.

The Bantams were raging after Rob Lewis awarded a controversial penalty at Macclesfield.

Luke Oliver was adjudged to have nudged over Ross Draper after the home midfielder had overrun the ball into keeper Matt Duke.

But City felt Lewis gave it to make up for not awarding Macclesfield a penalty in the first half.

Joint-chairman Lawn feels that the level of officiating in the basement divisions is slipping.

He said: “I know that being a referee is a hard job but we’ve got to try to improve the standard. It’s the same as with any other business.

“We should be looking to improve referees, though how we do it I don’t know.

“Maybe we should help them by bringing in technology or getting fitter referees so they can keep up with the play.

“It’s something the referees' association needs to look at, certainly at this level. When you are in Leagues One and Two, you definitely get some unusual decisions.”

City felt equally frustrated with a penalty given against Robbie Threlfall at Burton earlier this month. But they have also had the benefit of their own contentious call against Bristol Rovers after Jamie Devitt tumbled in the box.

Lawn added: “I’m not saying referees have got it in for us because that’s not the case. I just feel we need to do something to improve the overall standard.

“It will be interesting to see how they view they can improve their own professional body. Every other sphere of life has a personal development programme – is that the case with referees?

“Do they have simple things like eye tests every year?

“With me being a diabetic, I get tested every year and you discover that it gradually gets worse. If it’s not already there, perhaps they should look at putting that in place.

“But something has to be done. Everybody in the game says the standard of refereeing needs to improve.”

Meanwhile, Lawn said that it was the right decision for all parties to settle Lewis Hunt’s contract early.

The Peter Taylor signing played just once for Phil Parkinson at Crawley – and was subbed as a sub.

Lawn said: “It was a difficult situation with Lewis. Peter Jackson wanted to play him (at the end of) last season which invoked another year in his contract.

“That was the cause of the problem. Phil made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t in his plans for the squad so we had to come to some sort of terms.”