ROBBIE Lawton provided a blunt assessment of a worsening predicament for Altrincham after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Gloucester City left them 14 points away from National League North safety.

Never one to shirk a challenge in his days as skipper, Alty's assistant boss demanded a change of outlook from the current squad and urged them to adopt a more positive approach before it is too late.

"We can't keep saying we had a lot of possession and possibly did enough to win, because we've got nothing to show for it again," he said.

"We've got sucked into a poor game of football, and that wasn't the plan. It should have been comfortable, because they didn't offer much, but our tempo was slow and we had players at fault for their goal.

"That seems to be a recurring theme, and until we resolve that, we are not going to get 1-0s, or even 0-0s, because we are giving ourselves too much to do.

"The players' mindset seems to be 'here we go again', and it seems to be deep-rooted.

"It is deeply ingrained, but we are challenging them to change it every time we are with them.

"The message we are trying to get across is they have to motivate themselves to achieve, rather than motivate themselves to avoid failing. That is the problem, but we are trying to address it.

"For the first time while we've been here, they were given a pretty negative reinforcement at half time, and that's putting it nicely.

"The first half was unacceptable, and even in the second half we weren't incisive or clinical enough.

"I'm a firm believer mentality is the issue here. No one will feel sorry for them or resolve it for them.

"They need to do it themselves. We've got a very patient set of fans who have been losing patience and no one can blame them for that.

"It's time we repaid them."

Alty are at home again on Saturday, against a Gainsborough side who currently occupy the all-important fourth-bottom position.