Reading YMCA were left stunned after throwing away a 2-goal lead to eventually lose 3-2 to a rampant Royal Mail side.

Mail were tipped to struggle this year but 3 wins from 3 games has seen them storm to the top of the table and daring to dream of a title challenge.

And they were good value for the 3 points in this game against a YM side who are winless after 3 games.

Mail started well but YM had the first chance when great work from Martin Abery ended with him fizzing the ball across goal to Nick Seymour whose volley sailed over the bar.

But YM took the lead soon after when the industrious Seymour ran down the left before pulling the ball back for Drew Tipper to volley home.

Mail continued to be the better side and YM were frequently forced to make last ditch challenges to prevent them equalizing.  But against the run of play YM extended the lead when Abery found Tipper inside the box but as Tipper wound up to take the shot he was tackled with the ball deflecting into the path of Seymour who slotted home.

YM never got going after the break with their play frequently punctuated by misplaced passes and poor decision making.  Mail capitalised on this to dictate the game and pulled a goal back when Luke Fargia hit an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner.

Mail then earned a free-kick from an identical position and, despite not hitting his attempt with the venom of the first, debutant YM keeper Rob Taylor was unable to keep his effort out.

It was all Mail now and they almost took the lead when Phil Fisher hit the inside of the post but the ball deflected across goal before being cleared.

YM were defending desperately but looked shellshocked and when a goalmouth scramble ended with the ball at Fargia’s feet he made no mistake in claiming his hat-trick.

YM boss Mark Lemm said “We got what we deserved as Mail were the better side throughout.  We kept shooting ourselves in the foot because we kept giving the ball away which never allowed us to build any sort of pressure.”

READING YMCA: TAYLOR, FITZPATRICK, ALLEN, ROLFE, CORNELL, KEARSEY (replaced by ADEY 80mins), EDMUNDS (replaced by JENNINGS 60mins), SIDWELL (replaced by BULLETT 60mins), ABERY, D TIPPER, SEYMOUR SUBS JENNINGS, BULLETT, ADEY.