LEE Sinnott remained defiant after Altrincham surrendered a second-half lead and were forced into an FA Trophy replay at The J.Davidson Stadium on Tuesday night.

Alty looked to have the measure of Leamington after breaking the deadlock with a typical poacher’s finish by Damian Reeves, but an equaliser soon after meant the sides must meet again next Tuesday for the right to face Bognor Regis in the second round.

"I reminded the players after that they are not out of the competition," said Alty boss Sinnott.

"We are very respectful of Leamington, but I have no qualms about going down there to finish the job.

"On another night, we could have had three or four goals quite easily, but football is like that at times. It is not an exact science.

"Over the 90 minutes, we played some nice football through the first couple of phases, the back third and middle third.

"All that was missing was a bit of fortune, when you consider we hit the post twice, had a shot that was about to cross the line until backspin stopped it in its tracks and another couple that were blocked from close range.

"Leamington had one or two isolated attacks, but you have to say Tim Deasy wasn’t exactly overworked.

"We want to go through. That is the be-all and end-all, but I honestly don’t think we did a lot wrong."

Alty are away to promotion favourites Cheltenham on Saturday before heading to Warwickshire on Tuesday, but Sinnott is adamant his players are ready for the challenge.

"If you think you are tired, you will be tired, so we won’t let that creep in," he said.

"Is your glass half-full or half-empty? We’ve got a replay to negotiate, and we will approach it with confidence and in a positive manner.

"We will play a lot worse than we did against Leamington and win, I’m sure of that.

"Some of the football we played was decent, and with a bit of luck, we would have had enough goals to have seen us through."