IT IS NOT JUST MANAGERS IN THE Barclays Premiership who fall prey to early-season expectations before the end of August; just ask Terry Brown, the Aldershot Town manager. After opening the season with back-to-back home defeats, it is not achieving a first victory of the season that is his highest priority, but remaining in charge.

“My aim at the moment is to keep myself in a job,” a disconsolate Brown said. “When you are at a senior club and you have suffered two defeats at home against sides that, if we have title aspirations, we should be beating, then that is where the pressure comes from. It’s a very difficult time for us, a club this size doesn’t want to go five or six games without a win.”

For a man who has enjoyed nothing but success in his three seasons at the Recreation Ground — a Ryman League premier division championship and trips to the play-offs in their two Nationwide Conference seasons — it is a singular experience. As a mitigating factor he can point to a catalogue of injuries, but then so can many managers, including Graham Heathcote, whose Altrincham side had only 15 fit players for Saturday’s encounter.

Brown, never one to lean on excuses, was frank when it came to the reasons for his club’s poor start. “I can point to injuries but I have to look at the bigger picture,” Brown said. “You are top of the league for a reason and bottom of the league for a reason.

“We’re bottom of the league because we have conceded soft goals and we haven’t scored at the other end. It’s not rocket science; if you’re doing neither of these things it’s academic that we run most of the midfield — that’s just a means of transporting the ball from one box to another. At the moment we’re not good enough in either box.”

More telling was the lack of success in the transfer market after losing key players; Brett Johnson departing for Northampton Town and Will Antwi leaving for Wycombe Wanderers. Three targets failed to agree terms, despite training with Aldershot over the summer, and went elsewhere — Sekani Simpson, Julian Alsop and Mark Rawle opting for Forest Green Rovers, Tamworth and Woking respectively.

On Saturday it was the same story for Aldershot, plenty of possession, dominant in midfield but let down by a lack of quality in both penalty areas. Aldershot fell to two identical goals that were so effective in their simplicity. Pinpoint right-wing crosses late in the second half from the experienced Colin Potts found James Olsen and then Colin Little unmarked six yards from goal, both finishing with aplomb.

“I thought through the whole game that we would get something out of it,” Brown said. “We created enough chances to have won a couple of games. At the moment there is not enough belief in the final third. The most disappointing aspect is the two goals that we gave away.”

It seems inconceivable that one of the most respected managers in non-league football, given time, will not turn things around at the Recreation Ground, but time is often a luxury that modern managers are not afforded.

Aldershot (4-4-2): N Bull — T Mustafa, T Jinadu, S Guyett, L Hamilton (sub: H Sulaiman, 74min) — N Crittenden, S Watson, M Somner, B Cozic — T Sills (sub: B Brayley, 64), C McPhee. Substitutes not used: D Weait, D Winfield, R Scott.

Altrincham (4-4-2): S Coburn — S Hawes, P Band, G Talbot, C Adams — C Potts, S Rose (sub: N McKenzie, 67), V Owen, L Chalmers (sub: J Olsen, 67) — C Little, G Williams (sub: L Hendley, 80). Substitutes not used: R Acton, G Melling. Booked: Chalmers.

Referee: M Bull

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