By Pete Oliver

Altrincham striker Colin Little hopes he has rediscovered his goalscoring touch in time to keep the Robins in the Conference.

Little's goals have been an integral part of Altrincham's success over the past two years since the former Crewe frontman returned to part-time football with his local club.

This season, injuries and suspension have stemmed the flow but with three goals in his past two games, Little's return to form could not have been better timed.

"The manager and the team rely on my goals," he told BBC Sport.

Hopefully I can stay injury-free until the end of the season and get a few goals to help us get safe Colin Little

"The lads do a brilliant job for the team and I put the icing on the cake but it has been frustrating for me not to be firing.

"I just felt I had started to hit a bit of form earlier in the season. I scored against Halifax but then got injured in that game and I never got going again.

"When I came back I got a couple of goals but then I got sent off at Christmas, when even their manager said I didn't do anything and missed some more games.

"It has been difficult but hopefully now I can go on a bit of a run. Hopefully I can stay injury-free until the end of the season and get a few goals to help us get safe."

Little admits that he would sacrifice a terrible season on a personal level for maintaining Altrincham's Conference status.

But the facts suggest that Alty need the 34-year-old to be firing on all cylinders to prosper.

Since Little returned to the club where he had played as a junior, prior to a successful stint with Crewe and then shorter spells at Macclesfield and Halifax, he has scored 63 goals in 129 appearances.

His 38 goals led Altrincham to promotion in 2005 and then last season 17 Conference goals did much to keep the Moss Lane club up - in spite of their 18-point deduction.

He is leading scorer again this term with seven league goals and, crucially, his most recent efforts have helped produce back-to-back wins for the first time this season to lift Graham Heathcote's side out of the relegation places.

"We needed those wins badly and now we have given ourselves a chance," said Little.

We need to get another away win from somewhere and then gobble up the winnable games at home Colin Little

"Things were not going for us but that 5-0 win over Cambridge gave us the belief and then we kicked on to get our first away win.

"We have always been confident and we would have said that if we hadn't beaten Cambridge. But we really are now."

With four teams going down for the first time and the likes of Tamworth hitting form near the bottom of the table, it could take a major points tally to guarantee safety.

"When I was at Crewe we used to set ourselves a 50-point target in the Championship to be safe," added Little.

"With four teams going down from the Conference it might be different. It could take even more than 50 but it will be there or thereabouts."

Altrincham will play against four of their nearest rivals in the relegation scrap in the run-in to the end of the season but the league table shows that up to a dozen clubs could still be in danger.

"We always knew it would be tight and it will be right to the end," said Little.

"But quite a few teams are looking over their shoulders now. We have hit a bit of form and we have some winnable games to come.

"We need to get another away win from somewhere and then gobble up the winnable games at home. It's within our own hands."

Little believes Altrincham are an improved side from last season and can also draw on the experience of 12 months ago to help them win the fight for survival.

If we can stay up I think there's a good future Colin Little

And he believes that the pressure could be greater on other clubs that have more to lose financially by going down.

As a genuine part-time team, Altrincham run on one of the smallest budgets in the league and, having battled to clear historic debts, now run a tight ship.

Relegation to Conference North would be a blow to morale, rather than the financial death knell that might threaten one or two others and Little feels that could yet be a factor.

He said: "Some of the clubs with bigger budgets would be in a worse state than us if they went down. For us, it would not be the end of the world, although we don't want to do it.

"We have punched above our weight for the past two seasons and we want to stay there.

"The club has been clearing its debts and there is some money to come from the Ian Craney deal (around £70,0000 from a sell-on clause in the deal which took former Altrincham player Craney from Accrington to Swansea).

"So if we can stay up I think there's a good future."

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