READING Hockey Club have seen very little of two of their former stars Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh in person since Great Britain's Olympic gold medal triumph in Rio.

They did manage to catch with them on the opening weekend of England Hockey's indoor league at Telford, but it turned out to be no happy reunion.

Sport's most celebrated female couple were in the East Grinstead team which hammered the Blues 6-0 with Helen scoring twice in the first half and Kate dominant in defence.

To add salt to the wounds, another of their old Sonning Lane colleagues, Ellie Cockburn, also got on the scoresheet.

Reading's youngsters had to face more old and current international stars in their second game on Sunday with Tina Cullen, Sally Walton, Becky Middleton and Kirsty Mackay all turning out for Bowdon Hightown.

They did well to hold them to 1-0 at half-time, but ended up losing 5-1 with Jess Minshull-Beech netting a late consolation goal.

An extremely tough weekend for them had started on Saturday with a 6-2 defeat by defending champions Slough, conceding three goals in each half.

Lydia Thacker and Frankie Roberts scored for Reading who were not helped by second-half green cards for Zoe Gittens and skipper Roberts.

Thacker was again carded in the 5-1 loss to Clifton Robinsons, their consolation goal coming from Gittens in stoppage time.

Reading Men also endured a nightmare opening weekend in their league matches staged at Bromsgrove School.

Guilty of conceding late goals, they lost all their four games and are the only team without a point in the top division.

In Saturday's opening game, Reading went down 8-6 to Brooklands MU after conceding four goals, all to David Flanagan, in the last five minutes.

Skipper Tom Carson, Lee Morton, each with two, Matt Richards and Nick Catlin were on target for last season's semi-finalists, who were on level terms at 6-6 with two minutes left on the clock.

Blues again shipped late goals when they took on Surbiton. They were 4-2 ahead after 29 minutes thanks to Richards (2), Catlin and Carson, but ended up losing 5-4.

And it was much the same story in their first game on Sunday against Team Bath Buccaneers. Morton and Carson put them 2-1 up, only to concede two goals from penalty corners in the last four minutes.

In their final match of the weekend, Reading led Wimbledon 5-4 with 30 minutes gone, only to end up the 6-5 losers to complete a bitterly disappointing and pointless weekend.

Their goals came from Carson (2), Richards, Catlin and Morton, while Lee Horler bagged five for the winners.

The remaining four games for both the Sonning Lane teams take place on January 6-7, but Reading's hopes of qualifying for Super Sixes Day at the Copper Box Arena in London's Olympic Park later in the month are far from bright although it is not out of the question for the men.

There is some good news for the Blues, however. Scotland forward Morton and former reserve goalkeeper Chris Wyver, a Reading University graduate, have both been added to the GB squad although they are likely to train only on a part-time basis.