STOURPORT Hockey Club’s men’s over-55 team suffered a cruel penalty shootout defeat against Reading in the National Cup semi-finals.
Stourport came from two goals down to take the game to a penalty shootout only for Reading to triumph 5-4 on penalties to deny the home side a place in the final.
The over-55s have now missed out on a place in the National Cup final in each of the last two seasons.
Stourport dominated the early exchanges as David Stokes, Tom White and Martin Oates took charge of the midfield battle.
This allowed David Knott, Neil Farquharson and Tim Wood to create early chances.
However, Reading took the lead with a well-taken breakaway goal midway through the first half.
Stourport continued to create opportunities only for Reading to double their lead before the half time interval.
Home captain and goalkeeper Simon Thompson made a couple of crucial saves at the start of the second period to keep Stourport in the contest.
And resolute defending from Steve Ellis and Dom Roberts ensured Reading could not trouble the scoreboard further.
Stourport halved the deficit when Knott converted a short corner.
And Knott levelled the game from another short corner in the last five minutes to take the game to a shootout.
However, Reading came out on top on penalties in sudden death after the first phase of five attempts each could not separate the sides.
