Reading's loss is England's gain. Whilst Reading struggled to overcome Glasgow Western in the European Cup Winners' Cup yesterday, their players were finding the net on England duty. Playing against Canada in the World Cup qualifiers in China, Reading's penalty corner specialist Richard Mantell put two passed the Canadians for no reply in the first twenty-five minutes of the match. Middelton was sin-binned in the last minutes of the first half, and during the power play situation the Canadians pulled two back thanks to Lee and Short. Shortly after the break, England regained their lead with two field goals from James Tindall. Reading player Jonty Clarke, who earlier in the match had hobbled off with a leg injury, came back to make the tally five for England. Canada had a chance to come back into the game when they pulled one back, courtesy of Pereira, who collected a rebound off the crossbar. Final score, England 5: Canada 3. England manager Pete Nicholson said "We are delighted with this victory, and for gaining nine points from our three games. This was our target at this stage of the competition, and gives us a great opportunity to qualify going into the next two matches"
England's next match is against Pakistan on Monday. Pakistan started out as favourites to top this pool, but their performance in the tournament so far has been well below expectations.
