Photo: Adam Dixon's shot hits the back of the net in Beeston's match against Montrouge. (Image: Hockey Images.co.uk)Both English sides were in action in Round 1.2 of the EuroHockey Leaguein Terrassa this afternoon.
Interestingly, both matches showed similar hallmarks. Beeston were two up against French side Montrouge after 23 minutes, with goals from Adam Dixon and Andrew Monte. They then seemed to take their foot off the gas and paid the penalty with a second half goal from Olivier Sanchez. This seemed to have the effect of steadying the ship and Martin Jones restored Beeston's two goal advantage with a superbly taken shot.
Having gone two ahead, Beeston relaxed again and conceded a goal from a penalty corner, scored by Martin Mayer. However, with only two minutes left, Montrouge were unable to score an equaliser and Beeston survived to take the match 3-2.
One slightly mad incident during the match was when Beeston's Alistair Wilson chased halfway across the pitch to remonstrate with umpire Servetto and earn a three minute suspension in the process. With the score at the time at 2-1, you might think that a defender might have other things on his mind.
We have been wracking our brains to remember whether any side that has won either of its Round 1 matches has failed to qualify for Round 2, and we cannot recall one. So, despite Beeston having to play the host club Terrassa on Sunday, it looks as if they will progress through to the next round.
Reading were 5-0 up against Stroitel Brest from Belarus, when they decided they had done enough and let the Belarusians back into the match with two quick goals. Reading's scorers had been Richard Springham, David Tyler, Richard Mantell, Chris Cargo and Simon Mantell. Fortunately, Reading were able to re-impose their first-half dominance with goals from Simon Mantell and Warren D'Souza. Final score 7-2.
A 7-2 win should be enough to see Reading progress to Round Two. They face a more difficult test on Sunday when they meet Dutch side Bloemendaal.
English interest tomorrow will be limited to East Grinstead, who meet Scotland's only contenders, Kelburne.
