LEE Sinnott refused to be downhearted after a second successive defeat for Altrincham and defiantly declared: ‘We’ll be ok'.

Alty are finding their Vanarama Conference baptism every bit as tough as expected, with an opening-day 3-1 setback at Aldershot followed by a narrow 2-1 reversal against Lincoln City at the J. Davidson Stadium, on Tuesday night.

The theme of mixing it with full-time clubs with a Football League pedigree continues against Bristol Rovers at the J. Davidson on Saturday, 3pm, but Sinnott insisted his players are showing signs of finding their feet at the new higher level.

"It’s fine lines at the moment," said the Alty manager. "We have played four halves now and conceded in the first 10 minutes in three of them.

I told the players at half-time 'that stops now', and thankfully it did.

"You can’t shoot yourself in the foot by not starting a half correctly, and we paid for allowing Lincoln to work a short corner early on. We switched off for a second, and, bang, it was an excellent delivery to the far post and 1-0. That’s what happens at this level.

"Then Steven Gillespie produces a bit of brilliance and it hits the bar. Fine lines again, when it could so easily have been 1-1.

"But there were positives at Aldershot and even more in a performance against Lincoln that I thought was even better. I dare say there may be some doom-mongers saying we are not good enough, but that is not the case.

"Give these lads a chance to become accustomed to the level they are playing at. You can tell them all about it, but they need to experience it for themselves to realise what it is about. It is a big jump from the part-time Conference North to a division packed with full-time teams, but there are some promising signs. We will be ok."

Skipper Shaun Densmore will have an x-ray today, Thursday, to discover whether he suffered a broken toe in the opening minutes against Lincoln.

Scott Leather is ready to step in, if need be, despite missing Tuesday night’s game, and several training sessions, after having to attend a month-long work-related training programme in the south.