WITH Altrincham playing good football and leading through a 19th-minute Kyle Perry goal, they had looked well set for a fourth successive win, on Monday.
But then a rare lapse by Luca Havern moments before half time, allowed former Alty reserve Ashley Stott to get behind him, where keeper Stuart Coburn brought him down to concede a penalty.
Stott got up to beat Coburn from the spot and give the half-time score a parity which did not reflect the preceding 45 minutes of Altrincham superiority.
Having rotated his squad by making five changes for this game, manager Lee Sinnott had to make further alterations when Perry limped off after 32 minutes and Scott Leather was unable to resume after half time.
And the newly invigorated Motormen subjected Altrincham to plenty of pressure in the second half.
Indeed, Altrincham were limited in their attempts to get forward for half an hour and were not helped by being caught offside on a number of occasions.
But the Altrincham back line held firm and the Robins raised their game as the match entered its final 10 minutes.
Having just wasted a corner, Jake Moult almost immediately put James Walshaw through with an excellent pass. Walshaw's low shot was half stopped by keeper Jones but trickled under his grasp into the net.
With seven minutes remaining, Altrincham made a professional job of playing out the closing stages to secure their fourth win in succession since the start of the season.
The three points lifted Altrincham to the top of the Skrill (Conference) North table.
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