PHIL Parkinson saluted the character of his Altrincham players after they took a string of injury setbacks in their stride to record their first-ever win against FC United of Manchester at Broadhurst Park on Saturday.

The tone was set inside the opening minute, when left-back Connor Hampson succumbed to a badly bruised hand, and there were real concerns in the Alty camp before half time, when centre-back Ben Harrison suffered what looked like a recurrence of knee ligament damage and had to be stretchered off.

Finally, on-loan forward Nathan Waterston was left hobbling after a stoppage-time challenge but, by then, Alty were closing in on a 2-1 win that kept them in seventh in National League North and banished the memory of a 3-0 defeat at Leamington a fortnight ago.

"The players showed an abundance of character and a real desire to win the game, and that’s what got us over the line," said Alty boss Parkinson.

"We had to contend with the injury disruption, for one thing, and FC United’s equaliser could have flipped the game on its head.

"Their crowd are a massive part of what they are about, in terms of building momentum, but our lads weren’t having it.

"They stuck to their guns, got their noses in front and saw the game out, and full credit to them for coming to an intimidating environment and standing up to it so well.

"It’s so important now to consolidate this win and get some real momentum going.

"We’ve got a tough month coming up, and the aim has to be to keep the back door shut as well as maintaining our goalscoring ratio.

"That’s one of the reasons why Steven Drench is here. You could see the quality of his distribution, feathering passes just out of reach of their full-backs and into the path of our wingers. It was absolutely spot-on.

"It’s just unfortunate the injuries overshadowed what was a must-win game, and it’s not looking great for Ben.

"It’s the same knee as before, and it’s just gone underneath him.

"We wish him all the best and will do everything we can to help him get back on the pitch."

The Robins host Bradford (Park Avenue) on Saturday and will wear their special edition LGBT-based kit in support of Football v Homophobia at The J.Davidson Stadium.