Hockey: Mason saves Reading's day

Simon Mason, Reading's Great Britain goalkeeper, pulled off some brilliant saves to make up for an early lapse as his side beat Polo Barcelona, 2- 1, in the Los Reyes tournament yesterday.

Jon Wyatt, their captain, put Reading 1-0 ahead when he scored from a penalty stroke, but indecision by Mason allowed Polo to equalise after 19 minutes. Jon Slay slammed home the winner on the interval. As tempers frayed and Polo drove hard for the second equaliser, Mason pulled off a reflex save from a deflection off one of his own defenders and then dived late to block a close-range shot when all had seemed lost. Reading's game today against the Spanish Under-21s - El Cid - is likely to decide the tournament. After beating FC Barcelona 10-1 on Saturday, there seems little doubt Reading's form reflects the recent return of Britain's Olympic coach Jon Copp.

Southgate, who had drawn 2-2 with Polo on Saturday, crushed Polo 18-97, 9-0, yesterday, with Adrian Simmons scoring a hat-trick. For Southgate, the precision passing skills of another Olympian, John Shaw, stamped their superiority.

Surrey, after Rob Daubeney had given them a good start, lost their way to trail El Cid 3-1 at the interval. Late goals from Gareth Notton and Mark Morris earned them a 3-3 draw.