ALTRINCHAM’S long unbeaten away run came to an end at Rushall Olympic on Saturday and torrential rain put paid to the scheduled Easter Monday clash against Marine at the J.Davidson Stadium – now rearranged for Tuesday, April 24 – yet the Robins are still in a very strong position to be crowned champions going into the last eight games of their Evo-Stik Premier campaign.

Warrington Town, the nearest challengers to the Robins, have taken just two points from the last nine and were thwarted by a late Witton Albion equaliser on Easter Monday.

That leaves Alty five points clear and with a massively superior goal difference.

Grantham Town are closing in on the rails, now just two points behind Warrington, having won five consecutive games and must be considered title contenders in what looks like a three-horse race.

Robins boss Phil Parkinson did not pull any punches after Saturday’s 2-0 reverse in the West Midlands.

He said: “We weren’t good enough and got ourselves into an arm-wrestle with Rushall, which played into their hands.

"We were so poor in the first half it was unbelievable and while we had a go after the break, it always had the feeling that it wasn’t going to be our day.

"We’ve got a few injuries but we must deal with that and not enough players did.

"I must apologise to the fans, who were awe-inspiring with their absolutely outstanding support throughout the game."

The Alty supremo added: "I am glad to see the back of March, which hasn’t been a good month for us, but everyone has got a tough run-in and we are still in a great position at the top of the league with our destiny very much in our own hands."

Alty now face a gruelling sequence of three away games in five days, starting with a trip to Shaw Lane tonight before heading north on Saturday to face Lancaster and then south on Monday to play Stourbridge.