Danson stars as Reading crush Cannock
Shakila Barabhuiya • Published 10 Nov 2011 09:30
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ALEX Danson scored a hat-trick as Reading Ladies recorded a 10-0 thrashing over bottom side Cannock in a Super Sunday weekend at Sonning Lane.
The win was Reading's biggest of the season and that was without GB stars such as Beth Storry and Kate Walsh. But that gave under 18 player Alice Freeman an opportunity to make her senior team debut.
The ladies have now opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Investec Premier Division having won seven out of a possible seven.
A measure of Reading's domination was the fact that Cannock only mustered their first short corner after the tenth Reading goal.
Livewire Danson opened the scoring after a couple of minutes with further goals from Becky Halle, Liana Smith and a fine solo effort from Helen Richardson.
Danson scored her second from a short corner with Halle also doubling her tally.
Everything seemed to go Reading's way, with Danson completing her hat-trick and Sam Quek, Jess Brooker and Smith completing the rout.
They will face a much stiffer task when they travel to Leicester this Saturday (12.30pm).
However it wasn't such good news for the men, who followed up the ladies with a narrow 1-0 defeat to the same opposition.
A depleted squad, missing Simon Mantell, Jonty Clarke, Nick Catlin and Stephen Dick couldn't find their way past a strong Cannock outfit who sit second in the table.
Iain Mackay came closest to scoring for Reading in the first half but Richard Mantell's last ditch tackle saved them from going a goal down.
However, Cannock went ahead shortly after when a disputed short corner was drilled past Nick Brothers.
Despite an improved second-half performance, Reading were unable to break the deadlock and they slip down to sixth place.
They will hope to get back to winning ways at Southgate on Sunday (2pm).
SIMON and Richard Mantell have both been named in the Great Britain squad for the Champions Trophy which takes place in New Zealand next month.
Iain Mackay is the only other Reading player in the 18-man squad as Jonty Clarke and Stephen Dick are omitted due to injury.
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