Planted at the bottom of Pool A this morning, Reading played their get out of gaol card with some effect in their last group match in the European Club Championships here in Bloemendaal this afternoon. It was Reading’s turn to take advantage of playing against a side with ten men after Kelbourne’s Willie Marshall was sent to cool his heals after an overly enthusiastic stick tackle in the 27th minute. The English side were not slow to capitalise on the one man advantage and two penalty corners in quick succession gave them a 2-0 lead. The scorers were Austin Smith and Richard Mantell. But throughout this tournament Reading have shown a liking for living dangerously, and this match was no exception. Indeed the Scots had put Reading on notice by sinking the ball into the Reading net early in the match, only to see the goal disallowed. Kelbourne came out for the second half obviously keen to claim the bonze medal play-off match which would be the reward for the winner. The early award of a penalty corner gave Niall Stott the goal that looked like it had put Kelbourne back into the match. Indeed, the Scots then spent the better part of the second half parked in the Reading half, although Simon Mantell and Jonty Clarke had opportunities on the break. The penalty corner count against Reading started to climb and it was some superlative goalkeeping by Nick Brothers that kept Reading in the game. For the English supporters it was the longest twenty-five minutes in history – for the Scots the shortest.
Reading have eventually managed to salvage something from this tournament as a result of this 2-1 win. Earlier in the day the Germans from Crefelder had comprehensively beaten the Polish contenders from Poznan 6-2. Crefelder will now meet either Bloemendaal or Terrassa in the final tomorrow. Meanwhile, Reading have a chance to stand on the podium if they can beat whoever is the loser of that match. Whoever it is it will be a tough call.
Our photograph shows Kelbourne goalkeeper Alan Dick beaten by Austin Smith’s penalty corner strike.
