Wembley 0

Maidenhead United 2

It may well have been St Valentine's Day, but Wembley showed very little sign of passion at Vale Farm on Saturday and slumped to a tame defeat against Maidenhead.

It is difficult to discover why the Lions gave such a languid display against fairly moderate opponents.

There was a general lack of enthusiasm exhibited throughout this contest and vast improvement will be required in future matches if Wembley are to retain their Ryman League First Division status.

Hampered by misplaced passes and constant interruptions, Wembley never got going and created only one worthwhile effort on target - an 80th minute header from Carlton Mitchell following a Richard Dee centre which Maidenhead keeper Trevor Roffey gathered comfortably.

The visitors were little better, but at least they tried to keep Lions keeper Kevin Beckles busy.

A stinging drive from the onrushing Tyrone Houston was superbly tipped over during the blank first half, while the unsighted Beckles did well to collect Clayton Whittle's low strike during the second half.

Beckles had little chance shortly afterwards when Whittle fired home Maidenhead's first in the 71st minute after Garry Attrell had rounded a defender to deliver a pinpoint cross from the bye-line.

Unfortunately, the motionless Wembley never looked like levelling matters, and there was further salt rubbed into their wounds in the final minute when the speedy Houston was felled in the box and Mickey Crichton converted the ensuing penalty to make it 2-0 and complete Wembley's misery.

Wembley's improved form under new manager Peter Grant seems to have abandoned them in recent matches, halting their steady move away from the relegation zone.

And Grant will be hoping the sea air in Sussex will blow away the cobwebs and inspire his side to greater things when they visit mid-table Worthing on Saturday.

WEMBLEY: Beckles, Dee, Kirwan (Downes,75mins.), Walters, Scott, Mitchell, Hall (Thompson 43mins), Bates, Vincent, Roach, Latty (Ahmed 53mins).

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.