Altrincham's week reached its nadir with this third defeat in eight days as The Robins continue to lose ground in the quest for a play-off position. Today's reverse came against a team which had lost its previous four league matches.

As at Hartlepool in midweek, when five first-choices were consigned to the bench, today again witnessed some unexpected omissions from the Alty starting eleven as Altrincham's most consistent defender this season Lewis Baines was only named as a substitute, as was captain Isaac Marriott.

And Justin Amaluzor was not in the squad at all.

It later transpired that Baines, who went on to play the entire second half, had been ill in the week and that Marriott was deemed to be exhausted.

Back into the starting side came Linney, Conn-Clarke and Newby replacing Angus, Marriott and Kosylo. In Marriott's absence, Osborne assumed the captaincy.

On a heavily sanded pitch, Altrincham started reasonably well when Banks netted from close range after a Wilson effort had deflected to him in the 13th minute. But Alty failed to build on that goal despite Linney having a goal ruled out for offside.

A crude challenge by Roscoe earned him a deserved card and the visitors a freekick, just right of the penalty area. The ball ricocheted in the box after the freekick and fell for Lokko at the back post to score a deserved equaliser (30 mins).

Maidenhead went ahead just before the interval when Smith got across the front of the Alty back line to slide home an equaliser.

And little more than sixty seconds after the start of the second half, Maidenhead's veteran defender Remy Clerima headed home, unchallenged, from a right-wing corner.

Altrincham never looked like recovering the deficit, with possession being lost easily and no one having the guile to break down the resolute visitors' defence.

With two successive away games in Essex to follow next week, Altrincham will need to perform much better than this to realise their play-off aspirations.

Altrincham have now dropped to ninth.

SCORERS:

• 13 mins: Lewis BANKS (ALTRINCHAM 1 Maidenhead United 0)
• 30 mins: Kevin LOKKO (ALTRINCHAM 1 Maidenhead United 1)
• 45 mins: Reece SMITH (ALTRINCHAM 1 Maidenhead United 2)
• 47 mins: Remy CLERIMA (ALTRINCHAM 1 Maidenhead United 3)

Phil Parkinson had made five changes for the previous week's visit to Aldershot. Out went regulars Baines, Linney, Conn-Clarke, Amaluzor, and Newby who were also the club's five leading scorers this season with 42 league goals to their collective names. They were swapped for the five players who had populated the subs' bench last weekend.

And today, again witnessed some unexpected omissions from the Alty starting eleven. Altrincham's most consistent defender this season Lewis Baines was only named as a substitute, as was captain Isaac Marriott.

Their demotions were later explained as being due to illness for Baines and tiredness for Marriott.

Into the side came Linney, Conn-Clarke and Mooney for Angus, Marriott and Kosylo In Marriott's absence, Osborne assumed the captaincy. On the bench Ollie Byrne made his first appearance in a league squad this season.

Maidenhead had signed Leyton Orient forward Tristan Abrahams on the eve of the game and he started.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Matt Gould, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Jake Cooper, 3. Eddie Jones, 6. Elliot Osborne (c), 16. Sam Roscoe, 9. Regan Linney, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 30. Alex Newby, 19. George Wilson, 44. Dan Mooney. Subs: 1. Ollie Byrne, 4. Lewis Baines, 7. Matty Kosylo, 8. Isaac Marriott, 14. Dior Angus.

MAIDENHEAD UNITED (Light blue shirts, dark blue shorts and turquoise socks): 13. Craig Ross (c), 20. Remy Clérima, 4. Will De Havilland, 5. Kevin Lokko, 17. Reece Smith, 10. Kane Ferdinand, 3. Sam Beckwith, 16. Casey Pettit, 23. Tristan Abrahams, 27. Charlee Adams, 11. Jayden Mitchell-Lawson. Subs: 2. Zico Asare, 19. David Omilabu, 21. Chanka Zimba. 24. Alan Massey, 25. Sam Barratt

Following two successive away defeats, Altrincham faced a Maidenhead United side which had lost its last four fixtures.

Although United had played three more games then Altrincham, they lay thirteen points and nine places worse off than their hosts in 17th place, at kick-off.

Maidenhead had lost in midweek at home to Southend United when their line-up, with only four named on the bench.

Maidenhead won the toss and obliged Alty to change ends to attack the home end in the first half on a pitch that was sanded in large areas, expecially in front of the main stand.

Inside the first minute Altrincham got to the right byline through Linney and he won a corner. Nothing came of it but Altrincham had the better of things before Maidenhead earned themselves a corner (7 mins).

Both this, and the second corner which immediately followed, were poorly taken from the left.

Next, Linney cut in from the right but his rasping shot flew well wide as it went across goal for a goalkick (11 mins). But the hosts soon pressed again. The ball came out for Wilson whose shot from 20 yards was deflected into the path of the unmarked Banks who put his side ahead (13 mins).

Three minutes later, Altrincham had the ball in the net again, through Linney, but it was ruled out for offside (16 mins).

So, by the midway point of the half, it looked as if a routine home win beckoned. But then the tide turned.

An impressive run by Adams took him into the box but his low cross evaded his team-mates. Abrahams was then aggrieved when Roscoe seemed to trip him as they both headed towards the home side's goal.

When Mitchell-Lawson advanced to the right edge of the box, he was brought down by a crude challenge from Roscoe. The resulting freekick ricocheted ariund the box before Lokko put it into the net at the back post to make it 1-1 (30 mins).

Altrincham's lacklustre performance at this stage was briefly interrupted by an impressive run from Mooney, on the right, but his shot was blocked by the keeper (33 mins).

But, at the other end, Mitchell-Lawson got the better of Osborne and it needed an evellent block by Gould to keep him out (34 mins). The visitors continued in the ascendant and, after Abrahams had drawn a routine save from Gould, Maidenhead got to the left byline to win a corner (37 mins).

Alty struggled to clear Adams's corner before another run by Mooney brought his stuttering side some relief (39 mins).

And it was Mooney who also won a corner soon afterwards. Taken short, it led to a weaving run by Conn-Clarke which was halted in the box (43 mins).

As half-time approached, Clérima got forward on the right and Smith got across the front of a defender and neatly steered a low through ball into the net to give his side a 1-2 lead which stunned the home support (45 mins).

So a half whch had started promisingly for Altrincham had developed into a lacklustre display. And, for the second match running, they had conceded a goal on the cusp of the interval.

Baines replaced Rosoe at the interval, the post-match explanation being that Roscoe had a yellow card to his name.

Any hope of an immediate Alty response to falling behind was extinguished inside two minutes of the restart.

Maidenhead won a corner on the right. Gould was unable to reach the aerial ball and ex-Histon man Clérima rose unchallenged to head a third goal for the visitors (47 mins).

Immediately after the restart Newby lost the ball cheaply, a failing in this match which was applicable to many of his team-mates too, and a collective groan went through the home support.

Indeeed Conn-Clarke likewise surrendered possession just a few minutes later. The light relief of seeing the referee fall over did little to raise the home spirits.

Things improved when Osborne located Mooney whose ball was just too high for Conn-Clarke (57 mins).

A speculative thirty-yarder by Wilson gained a fortuitous corner for Alty, after which the ball seemed to have crossed the goal-line only for a Maidenhead freekick to be awarded.

Visiting goalkeeper Ross was now flagrantly timewasting whilst an increasingly tired performance from ALtrincham rendered the atmosphere distinctly downbeat in the ground.

Ross eventually dawdled a little too far, even for the referee, and he was shown a yellow card (63 mins).

Adams then hit a powerful shot from 25 yards which Gould beat out whilst Altrincham were creating no such trouble for the visiting keeper (68 mins).

Alty made a chanhge on 70 minutes when Kosylo replaced Newby but the home side's passing continued to lack the zip necessary to create openings in the visitors' defence.

As Maidenhead continued to look comfortable, Eddy Jones was booked for a foul (77 mins), with Linney following him into the book. Ross then "suffered" a tactical injury, sitting down for what seemed ti be wholly gratuitous treatment before resuming.

The next corner was the visitors' (79 mins) as Altrincham barely threatened at the other end. Angus replaced Mooney (85 mins), though quite how he was expected to change the game at such a late stage was questionable.

Maidenhead then broke up play with a series of substitutions; Barratt replaced Smith (86 mins), Zimba came on for pre-match loanee signing Abrahams (88 mins) and Asare replaced Mitchell-Lawson (90 mins).

In the fifth of the six decreed added minutes Alty won a corner but nothing came of it as the game ended tamely in Altrincham's third successive defeat and a drop to ninth in the table ahead of two lengthy away trips to Essex in the coming seven days.

Phil Parkinson and Neil Sorvel will need to muster all of their management skills to get their team back on the play-off trail.