BROOKLANDS Hockey Club hit their highest National League score of the season with five at Reading but still lost and are now relegated from the Premier Division as bottom club one point below East Grinstead.

All the goals came directly form short corners or were follow-ups, ironically so, since failing to score from the set pieces was one of the factors earlier in the season which first plunged the team into relegation trouble.

Reading took a four-goal lead in the first 22 minutes before John Bell pulled one back for Brooklands to trail 4-1 at the interval.

The high-scoring second half saw Bell grab another goal with David De Prez scoring twice and Andrew Brogdon getting the last, but they couldn't stop Mark Pearn and Ken Robinson scoring hat-tricks for Reading with Todd, Hoskin and Loose claiming the other goals.

The win confirmed a place for Reading in the top-four play-offs to decide the Premier Championship and leave Brooklands manager Roger Newcombe describing the goal fest: "It was like festival hockey in the second half with goals galore at both ends.

"I must add, though, that I am sure Reading were also looking ahead to the play-offs and so had a more purposeful edge about them.

They dominated for long spells against our boys who knew they were relegated and had little to play for except their pride, which at least saw them run up their best score of the season in the Premier."

Meanwhile, Brooklands Ladies finished their season unbeaten to win promotion to the fifth division of the Barrington Cheshire League.

Coached by the men's first-team striker Simon Livingstone, they scored 83 goals, twice as many as Oxton the runners up.

School teacher Mhairi Ferrol netted 35 of them to become the division's top scorer for the second successive season.

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