Hockey: Cannock brush rivals aside in Barcelona

Cannock took a strong grip of the senior men's trophy at the Los Reyes International Tournament in Barcelona yesterday with a 7-1 victory over the University of British Columbia.

The British side never looked back after two early goals from Andy West set them on their way against a moderate University side.

Cannock had put up an equally powerful team performance in beating the host club RC Polo 4-2 on Saturday, when Chris Mayer scored twice. The former England striker, Ben Sharpe, made three goal-line saves at penalty corners in a strong midfield display.

England Veterans completed their tournament with an 11-2 win against Belgium to remain unbeaten and take the veterans' title.

Don Williams struck four goals while Andy Cairns and Rob Thompson scored twice each during a rout against which Belgium rallied only in the last couple of minutes to bring goalkeeper Sean Rowlands into the game.

But Reading's hopes of claiming their third title in this annual event fell apart when they lost their midfield composure against RC Polo, suffering a 4-1 defeat. Three goals from Spain's Pol Amat sealed their fate.

After Richard Mantell had given the Berkshire side a good start with a fourth-minute penalty corner conversion, Reading allowed the hosts back into the game, with Amat scoring the first of his goals in the 19th minute as the Spanish side established a 3-1 lead by the interval.

In the women's trophy, Fyffes Leicester also performed below par in a 3-0 defeat by RC Polo, with poor finishing and hesitancy in defence undoing the tireless midfield work of Jennie Binson and Sarah Blanks.