Phil Parkinson pulled no punches as he described Altrincham’s finishing as ‘diabolical’ after they slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Wealdstone at The J.Davidson Stadium on Tuesday night.

After going behind to a 47th-minute goal, the Robins poured forward in search of an equaliser, only to fritter away a series of clear-cut chances, with substitutes Dan Malone and Marcus Dinanga both missing from close range.

With referee Greg Rollason infuriating the home crowd by waving away no fewer than three strong penalty claims, Alty boss Parkinson struggled to contain his frustration.

He said: “The referee reflected our performance in the first half, when we were absolutely abysmal.

“I rarely complain about referees, and I hate saying it, but he completely changed the complexion of the game for us.

“I’m not saying he is a bad referee, but he has had a bad, bad night.

“But there are no excuses from me for the players’ performance.

“We were abysmal in the first half, the worst I have seen us for a long, long time.

“I should probably have made the substitutions at half time, rather than early in the second half, because we gifted them a goal within two minutes of the restart, and then to miss chances the way we did after that was absolutely scandalous.

“We should never have lost, with the chances we created. We should be winning that 3-1. It is so bad to be missing those types of chances. It just can’t happen.

“We absolutely battered the door down. They weren’t even difficult chances. They have got to be goals, but that has been the story of our season - not efficient enough in front of goal.

“It is absolutely diabolical finishing that has cost us.

“We have got zero points because we can’t finish.

“We did everything right in the second half to have taken the points but weren’t clinical enough.”

Alty are without a game on Saturday but are home to Barnet on Tuesday (7.45pm).