Words John Edwards | Pictures Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 1 Tamworth 2

Altrincham were left ruing another three points that slipped away after two late goals by a previously second-best Tamworth side turned the game on its head and saddled the Robins with a fifth straight defeat at The J.Davidson Stadium.

When a barnstorming Lewis Banks header finally reflected Alty's dominance on the scoreline in the 59th minute, the margin of victory for Phil Parkinson's side appeared to be the only issue in doubt.

Instead, the visitors were inexplicably allowed back into it with goals in the 80th and 86th minutes which both came from an inability to deal with corners.

Once again, there was plenty to admire about aspects of Alty's approach play, but such an alarming sequence of results has left the team just one place above the bottom four and in greater need than ever of a change of fortunes away to Wealdstone on Saturday.

There was an early warning of things to come in only the fourth minute when Oli Lynch managed to find space for an angled drive that Luke Hutchinson did well to block.

Hutchinson was called into action again in the 15th minute when Kwaku Donkor's low effort demanded a sprawling save from the Alty keeper.

Most of the attacking creativity and intent was coming from the Robins, though, as they swarmed forward and began to make inroads towards the Tamworth area.

Tom Crawford fired narrowly over after being teed up by Charlie Kirk in the 27th minute, and Alty carved out another opening a minute later.

Kirk was on the end of the opportunity this time, shooting wide of the left post after fastening on to a pass from James Gale.

Tamworth were increasingly having to concentrate on nothing more than trying to keep their goal intact, which they managed to do for the remainder of a first half that ended bang on the 45-minute mark, without so much as a second of added time.

The visitors' goal shouldn't still have been intact early in the second half after Alty created their best chance so far.

Out of the right flank, Crawford laid the ball inside to Banks, whose low cross picked out Gale in the centre, only for the striker's first-time shot-on-the-turn to spin over the bar from an inviting position.

Crawford popped up on the left in the 52nd minute, latching on to a pass from Jimmy Knowles and crossing low for Gale to slide in and prod narrowly wide of the near post.

Alty thought they had broken the deadlock in the 56th minute when Knowles crossed from the right and Crawford headed home at the far post, only for the referee to spot a foul and rule it out.

Finally, the Tamworth resistance was breached as Alty took a deserved 59th-minute lead.

Knowles allowed the ball to run out for a corner on the right, and it proved a shrewd decision, as the flag-kick by Elliot Osborne was met by Banks, steaming in at the far post and meeting it with an unstoppable header into the roof of the net.

That should have been the cue for a welcome three points, but Tamworth had other ideas as they stunned the Robins with two goals in six minutes.

First, one-time Alty defender Kennedy Digie won the aerial battle for an 80th-minute corner from the right and powered home a header from close range to make it 1-1.

Then, even worse, when another corner from the right was only half-cleared, Alfie Bates fired it into a crowded area and saw it take a deflection on its way past Hutchinson to give the visitors a barely-believable lead they stubbornly clung on to.

Beeline VIP Travel Man Of The Match Tom Crawford

Altrincham Hutchinson; Banks, Reed, Baines (c), Osborne (Ward, 86'), Marriott, Gale (Weaver, 86'), Knowles, Crawford, Sassi, Kirk. Subs not used: Kosylo, German, Fallon.

Tamworth Singh; Digie, Bates, Sayer (Duku, 72'), Milnes (c) (Riley, 83'), Enoru (McGlinchey, 72'), Fairlamb, Mols (Ponticelli, 72'), Donkor, Hollis, Lynch. Subs not used: Rye, Cullinane-Liburd, Phillips.

HT 1-0

Goals Banks 59' | Digie 80', Bates 86'

Yellows Banks 66' | Bates 31', Duku 90'+4

Reds None | None

Referee Harrison Blair

Assistants Mehul Karia & Declan O'Regan

Fourth official Curtis Wood

Attendance 1,341 (71 away)

Next Up

Wealdstone are our next Enterprise National League opponents, at Grosvenor Vale on Saturday afternoon (3pm). Get your tickets from our hosts here.