Each week throughout the coming season, Altrincham manager Neil Young will be giving us his views on the Robins’ progress.
I’ve never experienced anything like Tuesday night and I guess that Altrincham fans are in the same boat.
We were absolutely shocking and AFC Fylde took full advantage and hammered us 6-0 and the scoreline could have been worse, as they certainly took their foot off the pedal a bit in the second half.
The manager is always responsible and I have to admit that I probably set the team up in the wrong way for this game. Playing James Lawrie behind Damian Reeves and Danny Hattersley left us too open defensively and our visitors took full advantage.
Watch highlights from last week’s draw at Harrogate:
I wasn’t happy with just taking three points from nine in the first three games, but I was pleased with the performances in those games against Darlington, Halifax and Harrogate and each result stood up as a decent outcome against three teams that are expected to be near the top of the table and the early season results would indicate that they will be.
If we had managed a result on Tuesday night then I think that we could have said that we had come through a very difficult start quite well, but now we have had to go back to the drawing board a bit, because the way we capitulated was unacceptable and I can only apologise to the 800 Alty fans that paid good money to turn out to support us on Tuesday and were badly let down.
I have brought in two players yesterday, who will both be available for the trip to Gainsborough today. Adam Sumner is a left back who joins on a non-contract basis from AFC Fylde. Adam knows this league well and has been part of the Fylde side that has reached the play-offs in the last two seasons.
Left back has been a problem area for us from day one and I am hoping that bringing Adam in will solve that. Nyal Bell is a tall striker that we have brought in from Gateshead on loan. He was released by Rochdale last season, but signed a two-year contract with the Tynesiders. With Craig Hobson and Khius Metz both injured, I feel that we need more striker options at this point and I think that Nyal will fit the bill well.
Gainsborough are currently bottom of the table but that doesn’t really mean anything at this stage of the season and I think that we can expect a close game with both teams desperate to gain their first victory of the season.
Pictures: Michael Ripley Photography
