“It’s a very disappointing result,” said Parkway boss Chris McPhee.

“In the first half I felt that we had plenty of possession, we used the ball well in our half to beat their press and caused them problems, and we got to some good areas at times in that first half, but just didn’t really create enough when we had good lots of possession.

“I felt that we were denied a perfectly good goal.

“The way the modern game of football is these days, you expect the referee to wait until the ball is dead, then have a conversation with the linesman because of linesman was very quick to flag.

“He probably shouldn’t have flagged until after the moment but again, that’s one of those things that just hasn’t gone for us today. It puts us 1-0 up, potentially the game’s different, and even their goal comes from an offside that’s not given.

“It’s frustrating because those key moments haven’t gone for us all season so far and a lot of people say that it evens itself out over the season, but we’re not experiencing that with 14 games to go. But I can’t put the put the result down to those moments. I can only put the result down to we just weren’t quite at it again.”

With four changes to the XI, Parkway started the game brightly, working an early chance for Callum Hall to have a crack from distance on his left foot. The returning midfielder’s effort was comfortably saved by Ryan Gosney when in truth he should have found James Watts-Barciela in a better position on the left wing.

The Yellows had another half chance through Ryan Brett who tried to catch Gosney off his line from a deep freekick however the ambitious effort had the power but lacked the deadeye finish.

The away side kept things tight and compact, making it difficult for Totton to find their rhythm, a frustration that was shown through former Premier League star Charlie Austin screaming at his side to press higher up the pitch.

Totton’s frustrations should have been magnified when Parkway had the ball in the back of the net after 27 minutes, but it was controversially chalked off for offside.

Tylor Love-Holmes looked to be in an offside position but let the ball roll for Tom Dean down the wing, who was well on side. The right-back whipped in a cross for Sergii Ismail who tapped home, only to see the flag had been raised prematurely by the linesman.

This seemed to wake the home side up, and the Stags started to show their danger from the wide areas.

Their crosses from wide entered the box with power, purpose and precision, but the movement from the forwards was lacking, enabling Taylor Scarff and Shane White to protect Matthew Wonnacott.

However, their defensive resolve was broken on the cusp of halftime when Luke Bennett found Taylor free behind the six-yard box to sweep home to make it 1-0 with five minutes of the half remaining.