West Mids hockey round-up

Cannock suffered a double defeat this weekend - crashing out of the cup after being turned over by title rivals Reading.

Last year’s champions, who pipped Cannock to the title on the last day of last season, ruined the opening of the new pitch at Chase Park with three unanswered goals to open up a six point gap at the top.

A cagey opening saw chances for both sides but it was visitors Reading who were more clinical and clinched a first-half lead thanks to Austin Smith.

Reading had good goalkeeping to thank for staying level but did manage to extend their lead thanks to Andy Watts and Warren D’Souza - leaving Cannock in fourth place in the table.

And their disappointment was compounded by a Cup defeat on Sunday as they fell to defeat against Beeston for the second time this season.

Cup holders Cannock couldn’t keep out the Nottinghamshire side and despite goals from Richard Lane and Gareth Andrew they have relinquished their grip on the trophy they won last year.

In National North Stourport moved into second place with a 4-2 win over Sheffield Hallam thanks to two goals from Imran Yousaf.

They fell behind early but John Mumford equalised and Yousaf extended the lead before Phil Lashford sealed the win.

In the Midlands Premier there was a big wins for Lichfield, who thrashed Nottingham 5-1 to get back to winning ways.

And Bridgnorth eased their worries near the bottom of the table with a 4-3 win over Sutton Coldfield.

But there was no such luck for Walsall in Midlands One as they crashed to a heavy 7-0 defeat against Rugby and East Warwick.

The Wolverhampton derby in the West Midlands Premier ended up level with Wolverhampton and Old Wulfrunians sharing the spoils.

Neil Dillon’s deflected effort after a free hit gave Old Wulfs the lead but after they had a man sinbinned they managed to draw level thanks to man of the match Kaval Jabbal.

• In that division Finchfield remain top after a convincing away win at Wednesbury.

Finches moved up a gear in the second half after a goalless first period, with Pete Clark, Adrian Parkes and Matt Stocken all netting goals to hand them a comprehensive 3-0 victory.

• In West Midlands One Old Halesonians beat Ludlow 4-0 to get back to winning ways before beating rivals Kingswinford to progress in the England Hockey Vase competition.

Old Hales are back in the top half after a brace of goals from Tom Bulteel and Chris Hill saw off Ludlow.

That came despite having Doug Houghton and Hafeez Mohammed sin-binned.

Results: Cannock II 6 Bournville II 0; Cannock III 3 Loughborough Students III 2; Cannock IIII 2 Sutton Coldfield 1; Cannock V 6 Old Silhillians IIII 3; Cannock VI 4 Worcester V 3; Cannock VII 1 Old Wulfrunians VIII 0. Wolverhampton II 3 Droitwich II 4; Wolverhampton III 1 Bridgnorth III 1; Wolverhampton IV 0 Shrewsbury IV 2; Wolverhampton V 3 Lichfield V 2; Finchfield II 2 Stone II 1; Wednesbury III 6 Finchfield III 2; Finchfield IIII 3; Shrewsbury IIII 6.