TWO home defeats in the space of four days have plunged Altrincham into an abyss that appears to have no obvious swift exit route.

A 2-0 defeat on Saturday against AFC Telford United flattered the Robins and despite an extra training session on Monday night to prepare for a huge relegation battle with bottom-of-the-table Bradford Park Avenue, it was the West Yorkshire side that prevailed on Tuesday as Jim Harvey’s team capitulated in the second half and eventually came away on the wrong side of a 3-2 scoreline.

“We started the game much better than we did against Telford and scored a marvellous goal from James Lawrie," the Robins boss said.

"But at half time, I wasn’t comfortable and in the second half, defensively, we were shocking again.

"We are bringing a lot of problems on ourselves. We are not good enough defensively, not by a long stretch.”

Tuesday night’s defeat leaves the team still third from bottom of National League North, but marooned seven points from safety with just seven points from 15 games.

A second relegation in two seasons is now looking probable, rather than possible, with the Evo-Stik Premier Division seemingly beckoning.

The silver lining in an increasingly dark cloud that looms over the J.Davidson Stadium is that the Altrincham board of directors have boosted the playing budget with the allocation of additional funds recently received as part of the transfer terms of Duncan Watmore to Premier League Sunderland in 2013.

And with £24,500 prize money already secured for winning three rounds in the Emirates FA Cup, Harvey has options to bring in desperately needed new players.

He added: "I have done some work to get one or two out to create space to bring new players in.

"I will have to make some moves now to try to strengthen, including looking at the loan market.”