Altrincham FC manager Lee Sinnott gives us the inside track on the Robins’ progress this season in the Vanarama National League. Here’s his latest column for Altrincham Today.
Since my last column we’ve played two league games over the back holiday weekend. The first one saw us play a strong Tranmere Rovers side at the J Davidson stadium. To get the three points against another promotion chasing team at home was very pleasing.
Our first half performance was fantastic and we defended extremely well in the second half and could have extended our 2-0 lead. We almost paid the price after conceding a soft goal near the end but the lads dug in well and saw the game out.
On Bank Holiday Monday we went to Southport and suffered a nightmare first 10 minutes. As if the injury to Simon Richman on three minutes wasn’t bad enough, we were on the end of another controversial decision, this time in the form of a penalty given against us despite the contact clearly being made outside the box.
Watch highlights of the win over Tranmere:
However I can’t make any excuses for our defending that led to the second goal. My players are very clear as to their roles at corners and we switched off which led to a Southport goal on the break. From then on we were always chasing the game, unfortunately we were toothless in front of goal and couldn’t get ourselves a goal that would have given us a chance of a late comeback.
Simon has tweaked his hamstring and won’t be available for the game at the weekend however Andy Parry should be fit to play barring any late problems. It will be good to see him back in the squad following his performance against Tranmere.
This Saturday we welcome Gary Johnson and his Cheltenham Town side to the J Davidson stadium. Gary’s an excellent manager and his side have had a very good start to the season. But we need the three points just as badly as they do. I’ve told the players that if you can do the business like you did against Grimsby and Tranmere then there’s no reason why you can’t ask questions of Cheltenham and put on another strong performance at home.
We’re managing our injury situation as best we can, obviously our away form is a huge concern at the moment but all we can think about now is the game against Cheltenham and how we approach that game giving ourselves the best chance possible of gaining three points.
Images: Michael Ripley
