Phil Parkinson admitted his Altrincham side were ‘going through a bit of a moment’ after a second successive home defeat on Tuesday night left them looking anxiously over their shoulders at the teams below them in the National League.

A spectacular double raid on the loan market for Stockport County forwards Elliot Newby and Connor Jennings looked the perfect antidote to a worrying and costly recent malaise in front of goal.

Winger Newby and free-scoring striker Jennings both started against Barnet at The J.Davidson Stadium, but it made little difference as Alty slipped to a 1-0 defeat that left Parkinson bluntly conceding his side seldom looked like scoring.

They are now just three points clear of the bottom four, with a live BT Sport home fixture against in-form York City looming on Saturday (5.20pm), and Robins boss Parkinson summed up successive Tuesday night home defeats without a goal scored.

He said: “We are going through a bit of a moment where things are not going our way.

“When that happens, you have got to be harder to beat.

“We were never going to score tonight, so, in that case, you’ve got to keep a clean sheet and make sure you take something from the game.

“We have done well with loan signings, and it’s good to have Connor with us for the next month and Elliot for the next two months.

“If loan players are going to improve the team and not disrupt the culture of the club, I’m all for it, and they both had good debuts.”

Parkinson, assistant-manager Neil Sorvel and the playing squad will be lending their presence to the launch of ‘Altrincham Welcomes Christmas’ in the town centre next Thursday.

“Organised by Altrincham BID, a body funded by the businesses of Altrincham, the event will get under way with the Christmas lights being switched on in the Shaw’s Road area at 5pm, with the Robins’ management and players in attendance.