Image by Mark Comer
City take to the road once again tonight, as they head across the Pennines for a crucial clash with Altrincham (7.45pm kick-off).
Altrincham come into this one following defeat at the weekend, beaten at home against Woking.
Ricky Korboa’s 90+1st minute winner slumped Alty to six defeats from seven, as their play-off push continues to take significant dents.
With 15 wins and 10 draws recorded from 37 games so far, a play-off spot is still in touching distance with two teams within the spots sitting two and three points above the Robins.
Manager: Phil Parkinson
Phil Parkinson was appointed Alty manager in 2017, on the eve of the last game of the 2016-17 season in which Altrincham had been relegated to the Northern Premier League.
As a player, Parkinson was a junior at Crewe Alexandra, and then at Reading, before having a year at Port Vale. He made some two hundred appearances for Nantwich as a player, where he captained the team that won the FA Vase in 2006, as well as leading the Dabbers to promotion from the North West Counties League and UniBond League First Division.
Phil enjoyed promotion from the NPL as champions in his first season at Altrincham, and reached the play-offs in 2018-19 in National League North, before wining promotion to the National League via the play-offs in 2020.
Following another exciting season in 2022/23 for Alty, which included a run to the semi-finals of the Isuzu FA Trophy, a respectable National League campaign, a Cheshire Senior Cup final appearance, all in their first season as full time professionals, Phil and his assistant Neil Sorvel extended their deals with the club until the end of 24/25 season.
Top Scorer: Chris Conn-Clarke
Tuesday night will mark Chris Conn-Clarke’s 75th game as a Robins player, if he is to play, across three different spells at Phil Parkinson’s side.
Having previously played for Linfield’s youth academy, the County Antrim-born player joined Glentoran aged 11.
In the summer of 2017, Conn-Clarke was offered a scholarship by Premier League side Burnley, but remained at Glentoran for the 2017–18 season due to his age.
Conn-Clarke made his senior debut for Glens in April 2018, as a substitute, in a 3–1 defeat to Ballinamallard United.
The midfielder joined Burnley on a two-year scholarship in the summer of 2018.
In summer 2020, he was given a one-year extension to his scholarship. In October, he joined National League North club Chorley on a work experience loan, where he made two appearances.
The Northern Irish youth international switched to Fleetwood on a permanent in February 2021, on an initial 18-month contract with a year extension option also taken.
A Cod Army debut was made in September 2021 away to Cambridge United, before his first Altrincham loan spell occurred in February 2022.
Conn-Clarke returned to Alty in the summer of 2022 until January 2023, playing 32 times and scoring 10 goals.
Fleetwood proceeded to recall the midfielder and send him to Waterford, where he then made 15 League of Ireland appearances.
A club record fee was put up by Altrincham last summer to purchase the midfielder permanently, with Conn-Clarke repaying the faith by notching 18 goals so far this campaign.
Head-to-Head
Altrincham have done City over numerous times in the past couple of years, with a draw stopping six loses in-a-row from becoming seven against the Robins at the start of the season.
City’s last victory against the Robins came in the 2019 National League North opener, when an own goal and two second half strikes from Jordan Burrow and Josh Tait secured victory on the road.