PHIL Parkinson summed up his dismay at Altrincham’s second home defeat in five days by labelling it ‘shambolic’ after Boston United eased to a 2-0 win at The J.Davidson Stadium.

Hard on the heels of surrendering a lead and losing 2-1 to FC United of Manchester, Alty turned in a lacklustre performance against Boston that had Parkinson scratching his head after their impressive start to the season, and demanding a reaction at Darlington on Saturday.

"Without pulling any punches, I thought we were shambolic," said the Alty manager after the loss.

"That performance was not acceptable.

"I don’t normally go into the changing room and delve into the negative aspects of a performance, but I had to today.

"At times it was men against boys, yet I know these players can do it.

"I know they can compete at this level because I have seen it in the opening three games.

"However, for the last 20 minutes against FC United, and pretty much the entire 90 today, we were second best and there is nothing worse for a manager to say than that.

"A lot of them will have dinted pride and egos – I certainly have.

"I’m really hurting after that.

"I have said to the players, if they want to carry on playing the style of football I promote and we are all about, they need to show it on the pitch because unfortunately for myself, there is only so long this football club will accept performances like that.

"I know it’s very early days to be saying that but that is football, and if I’m watching that today I’m distraught at what I’m seeing.

"We deserve all the criticism we are certainly going to get and are going to have to take it on the chin, because that was a million miles away from the standards we set ourselves.

"It was probably the worst I have seen in my time here, but we have a clear week now to work on trying to put things right on Saturday.

"We know where we need to improve and we will do it."