Hockey: Bassano-Harper treble fires Holcombe's hopes

Chris Bassano-Harper was the toast of the non-National League club Holcombe following his hat-trick in their 3-1 win against Lewes yesterday. It takes the junior Kent club, in only their fourth year of existence, into today's quarter-final draw of the EH Cup in the only major surprise of the fifth round.

Despite an early scare the Cup holders, Reading, rallied from two goals down to beat Bournville 15-3. The German international Justus Scharowsky showed the way with three goals in a six-minute spell to put Reading out in front.

The Great Britain defender Rob Todd scored four times in the second half, while the Welsh international Howard Hoskin also scored a hat-trick before Scharowsky claimed his fourth goal.

The day's best performance probably came from First Division Chelmsford, who ran out 6-2 winners against Premier League Old Loughtonians. David De Prez grabbed a hat-trick, with Jonathon Wilcox, Chris Broom and the South African Marc Oelofse scoring the others.

There were no surprises in the women's competition, however. Last year's beaten finalists, Slough, with 10 players absent on international duty, finally succumbed 3-2 to Fyffes Leicester.