WHEN it comes to winning England Hockey cup finals, there are few more successful teams than Reading, writes Dave Wright.

The Blues made it eight wins since 1999 when lifting the national men’s title with a 6-1 trouncing of Canterbury on Saturday.

Andy Watts struck twice in what could be his last appearance for the club.

Whilst confirming he is standing down as coach, he is unsure about his playing career, but he has already been linked with Oxford Hawks, a club nearer his home and work.

Richard Mantell remains uncertain about his future at Sonning Lane, but Jonty Clarke confirmed he is now hanging up his boots.

It goes without saying, all three Sonning Lane stalwarts were delighted to end the season with another cup winner’s medal.

Mantell said: “I will decide what to do in the summer.

“At the moment I am hoping I can play a bit for Reading next season, but it’s up in the air at the moment.

“I have a lot of family and work commitments and I am living on the south coast, so there is travelling for training and matches to think about as well.”

Reading have been rebuilding for the future by giving more pitch time to youngsters and they will be delighted by what they saw in the final at Lee Valley.

After lifting the trophy, captain Dan Shingles commented: “Some of the young lads really stepped up today and were involved in scoring and setting up some of the goals.”

It was 18-year-old Nick Park who set Blues on the glory trail by opening the scoring in the 17th minute when he turned home a pass from fellow teenager Imre Gerrits. Ten minutes later Watts doubled the advantage, finishing off a penalty-corner, and defender Tim Atkins popped up in the right place to make it 3-0 on 40 minutes after keeper Diccon Stubbings had palmed out Ben Boon’s effort.

Atkins’ Scotland team-mate Tommy Alexander, who had pulled off a magnificent save early in the game, was caught out by a high ball into the circle which Canterbury skipper Craig Boyne volleyed into the net to make it 3-1.

But after that Reading never looked like conceding and they went on to seal a comfortable victory with goals from Gerrits in the 60th minute, Watts seven minutes later and James Carson in the final minute from a penalty corner.

James brother Tom, the Reading forward, had scored for Great Britain in their 2-2 draw with India earlier in the day.

Shingles, skippering the side in Tom’s absence, admitted it wasn’t a perfect performance.

“We gave the ball away too much in certain areas and were a little bit risky at times,” he told the Chronicle.

“Ultimately, in finals sometimes it is not about playing the best hockey, it is about being sensible and doing the right thing at the right time.

“We defended very well and we have so many threats going forward that we always knew we were going to score goals. There were some brilliant goals from all over the place.”

It was also the final game for team manager Chris Davey and his wife Jacky, the physio.

Earlier on Saturday, Reading had won the England Over-50s Cup by defeating last year’s winners Ben Rhydding 2-0.

“I think we had too much quality for them,” said skipper Andy Holden.

“We dominated without scoring as many goals as perhaps should have done and we also failed to score from eight short corners.”

Blues keeper Mark Boothroyd did not have one shot to save during the entire game.

Reading, whose squad included 1992 Olympians Rob Thompson and Don Williams, sealed victory with second-half goals from Ian Fitt and Soma Singh.

Holden added: “We had a lot of players who played in the early rounds who aren’t big names and ex-internationals. If it wasn’t for them we would not have made the final.

“So we collected a few extra medals for those players to give them the credit they deserve.”

The Reading club were unable to make it a hat-trick of wins over the Bank Holiday weekend as they were beaten 6-1 by holders Beeston in the Girls Under-18 Cup final at Lee Valley.

Abbie Dixon scored a late consolation goal for the Blues, who trailed 3-0 at the half-time interval on Monday.