Reading continued their defence of the National Cup they won last season with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at home to Clifton Robinsons on Sunday, writes Dave Wright.

Blues fielded a mixture of first-team regulars and players from their lower sides and struggled to overcome a Clifton side who are bottom of Conference West with only four points from 10 games.

After Lee Morton had gone close to opening the scoring for Blues, poor defending led to the visitors taking a fifth-minute lead through Ben Stone, who later struck the foot of the post.

Reading drew level just before half time with a smartly-taken goal from Scotland forward Morton, following good work by Ben Boon.

Skipper for the day, Boon also had a hand in the 50th-minute winner, earning a penalty corner which was despatched into the net by England international Tom Carson.

The Premier Division high fliers still didn’t look completely comfortable and Clifton twice came close to grabbing a late equaliser, but in the end Blues deserved to get their ticket to round three.

Reading are now preparing for the indoor league which starts on the weekend of December 16-17 with four games at Bromsgrove School.

Reading defender Liam Sanford had an outstanding game for England when they drew 2-2 with Australia on Monday in the World League finals being played in India, leaving them runners-up to Germany in Pool B.