Phil Parkinson admitted he was “shocked” by a performance he described as Altrincham’s worst of the season as the Robins’ four-match unbeaten run shuddered to a halt at Braintree Town on Saturday.

Alty responded with a much-improved showing at The J.Davidson Stadium on Tuesday night when they launched their National League Cup campaign with a penalty shootout win against Blackburn Rovers Under-21s after the 90 minutes ended with the score level at 3-3.

But it will take more of the same in this Saturday’s hugely-important Emirates FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie at home to Solihull Moors for Parkinson to consider the slate wiped clean after a 2-0 defeat at lowly Braintree that left the Alty boss seething.

“It was the worst we have played all season,” he fumed. “I certainly didn’t see the performance coming, as the players had trained extremely well and everyone was really confident and focused going into the game. It just shows how football can shock you.

“Our biggest problem was having too many players below par, but if you’re not playing to your normal levels, you still have to find a way to get the result. It was a really low quality, poor game and we massively contributed to that.

“It was another stark reminder of how difficult this division is. The players are very aware that their levels must improve going into next weekend. It’s going to be a really tough tie against Solihull Moors, but we simply must bounce back quickly.”

One of few bright spots for Alty at Braintree was an assured debut for new signing Connor Teale, who joined the Robins as a free agent just 48 hours before kick off and went straight into the starting line-up despite having had only a couple of training sessions with his new team-mates.

The 21-year old centre-back had been without a club since leaving League Two Fleetwood Town in the summer. He will be available for Saturday’s cup tie with Solihull at The J.Davidson Stadium (3pm).