READING men knocked holders Beeston out of the England Hockey Cup with a 3-1 win on Sunday, writes Dave Wright.

And their reward is a home semi-final with Brooklands MU – the side they surprisingly lost 4-2 to in the league last Saturday.

The students will return to Sonning Lane on April 2, only the second men’s cup tie the Blues have hosted in three seasons.

Reading, in seventh spot, are the highest placed team left in the competition.

Brooklands are just below them, while one rung lower than them are Canterbury, who play unbeaten South League leaders Bromley and Beckenham in the other semi-final.

So on paper, Reading must be favourites to lift the trophy for the second time in three seasons, but they won’t be celebrating at Lee Valley on April 29 if the perform like they did on Saturday.

They were made to look second best by relegation-threatened Brooklands, who had conceded six goals in each of their previous three league games.

But during the winter break the Manchester side had trained eight hours a week, including a lot of conditioning work, while Reading were concentrating on the indoor competition in addition to having outdoor sessions cancelled due to icy weather.

Blues team manager Chris Davey admitted: “Going straight into outdoor competitive action less than a week after the indoor did make it hard to adjust and prepare. Having had only two training sessions since Christmas didn’t help the guys.”

Most of the players had not even touched the ball before they conceded a penalty stroke inside the opening 30 seconds, giving Peter Flanagan the chance to put Brooklands ahead.

Blues struggled to get their game together, but still managed to hit back with goals from Ed Carson on 20 minutes and Andy Watts four minutes later.

But, despite a number of chances, they were unable to add to their tally during the rest of the game.

Four minutes after the interval the visitors were on level terms thanks to Richard Slater’s brilliant diving effort and Aidan Hares then put Brooklands ahead just before the hour mark.

Reading’s Dan Shingles, who had received a nasty blow on his nose in the first half, was sent to the sin-bin four minutes from time and a minute later was joined by keeper Tommy Alexander.

Brooklands took advantage at a penalty corner to add a late fourth through skipper Flanagan.

Reading, however, bounced back from that shock defeat with a vastly improved display on Sunday.

“It was like chalk and cheese,” said Davey.

“There was a much higher energy level, commitment, passion about the whole group.”

Richard Mantell converted one of his side’s two first-half penalty corners in the opening 35 minutes where there were chances at both ends.

Skipper Tom Carson and Ben Boon extended the lead to 3-0 in the opening five minutes of the second half before new signing Will Byas pulled one back in the 47th minute for Beeston, who were suffering their first cup defeat since 2015.

Reading are without a game this weekend as their scheduled opponents, East Grinstead, are involved in the European indoor championships in Vienna.

  • READING Women lost 2-1 at Leicester in the Investec League, extending their winless run to 11 games.

But they gave a good account of themselves and played their part in a lively game.

They took the lead in the ninth minute through Maddi Rosser following a swift counter-attack from their own circle after they had defended a short corner.

Blues had Scotland keeper Amy Gibson making her first league appearance, but she was unable to prevent Maddy Newlyn equalising from a penalty corner on 25 minutes.

From the restart, Reading lost possession and Katie Long set up the second goal for Lizzie Honarmand.

Blues battled hard for the equaliser, but could not break down a resolute home defence.

Reading host fifth-placed University of Birmingham this Saturday (1.30pm) with former players Olivia Paige, a new GB international, and Lucie Daman both likely to be named in the visitors’ squad.