Altrincham look to continue their excellent run of form this weekend as they welcome newly promoted Kings Lynn to the J Davidson Stadium.
Buoyed by their defensive heroics and victory midweek against Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground, Altrincham will be confident they can channel this same energy to make it five league victories out of six on Saturday.
After Tuesday’s triumph, Parkinson said: “On the defensive side of it, I’m absolutely made up, they’ve had to be on the mettle when the ball was coming into the box. It’s not something people would associate with Altrincham teams but we’ve had to do it at this level.”
Nevertheless, Parkinson was underwhelmed by Altrincham’s performance as a whole, which was more direct and defensive than usual.
“I was a little bit disappointed with our performance, I think we can play more football than that,” stated Parkinson.
The Altrincham gaffer will look to rekindle a more possessive style of football this weekend, which has become synonymous with the Robins under his tenure.
“We’re a possession-based team,” said Parkinson. “For me, our best form of defence is attack, and I felt we weren’t able to do that as well as we did on Saturday [Maidenhead] and away at Boreham Wood.”
Kings Lynn will be a different sort of challenge for the Robins. Compared to the Welsh high flyers, the Norfolk contingent lack the infrastructure and the backing of wealthy Hollywood actors – making them, on paper, eminently beatable. But Parkinson urged for caution in his post-match interview.
“I’m always happy when we win, but we don’t get too up we don’t get too down,” said Parkinson. “We’ve got another mountain to climb playing a team that won our division last season.”
Altrincham’s recent uptick in form has been aided by the injection of fresh blood into the starting 11. The management’s shrewd use of the loan market has heavily assisted this objective and will continue to be used by Parkinson over the coming months.
“I’ve had to work really hard bringing in players, it’s been a lot of hours making sure we bring the right people in,” added Parkinson.
Many Robins fans will be delighted after seeing their team jump up to fourth in the National League on Tuesday night, albeit having played more games than any other team. Nevertheless, Parkinson will look to disentangle his team from the budding enthusiasm, and acquit his side with the same composure they have recently shown.
“We look at [every team] as 11 players on the pitch,” stated Parkinson. “We can match anyone at this level.”
Photos: Michael Ripley
