Reading YMCA's involvement in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup is over for another year after a 5-goal supershow by Cookham Dean.

YM won twice at Cookham's Alfred Major Rec last season but the Young Men were totally outgunned in this one in a display that the Cookham staff described as their team's best performance in over a year.  And YM manager Mark Lemm was also full of praise for their Senior Division rivals "Cookham were awesome today and on this form I don't think anybody would have lived with them with the exception of maybe Highmoor.  Their big players Carl Reeves, Jamie Handscombe and Mark Doswell were all outstanding and they have also got some promising youngsters as well.

But their key strength is their team work - everyone works hard for each other, they all know their role in the team and they keep everything simple which is alot harder than it sounds.

We weren't terrible today but we can certainly play alot better than we did and we'll be a much tougher proposition when we meet here in the league.
We're still involved in 2 competitions and all our focus will go there now but Cookham have given us a benchmark today."

YM were defending right from the opening whistle with the Cookham strike pairing of Handscombe and James Gisbourne a constant threat. YM generally defended well but both strikers did manage to breach the YM rearguard although on both occasions they were forced wide and the chance was lost.

The game was all being played in the YM half and the inevitable goal came in sublime fashion when midfielder Doswell curled a first time shot into the top corner from just outside the box.  And it was the outstanding Doswell who doubled the lead just before the break when his slightly mishit shot looped over YM keeper Scott Mortimer into the net.

YM's best route back into the game seemed to come from set pieces and Cookham keeper Matt Collis had to be alert on a few occasions to deny the Young Men a lifeline.  One of the bright sparks for YM was wide man Nader Edmunds who was working tirelessly up and down the right flank and was unfortunate that his industry did not yield better results.

YM suffered a blow at the start of the 2nd half when key man Danny Fitzpatrick came off with a recurrence of a groin injury but this did allow for the introduction of top scorer Drew Tipper.  But almost immediately Cookham went 3-0 up with arguably the goal of the game when a deep cross found James Gisbourne who despite being off balance managed to find enough power to head the ball into the far corner from an acute angle.

By this stage Cookham were bursting with confidence and they began to play some wonderful passing football and at times YM were chasing shadows.  Some great individual skill from Handscombe in a tight area saw him beat 2 defenders and tap into the net and then lively youngster Nathan Lishman completed the rout after racing on to a through ball.

With Cookham piling forward, YM had their moments on the counterattack in the final 20 minutes and hit the bar twice but a consolation goal was beyond them leaving Cookham to travel to Woodley in the next round.

READING YMCA: MORTIMER, M LEMM, ROLFE, CASSIDY, FITZPATRICK (replaced by D TIPPER 50mins), KEARSEY (replaced by CORNELL 60mins), SIDWELL, ZIELINSKI, EDMUNDS, HEATH, WOODROW SUBS D TIPPER, CORNELL, MEAKIN (NOT USED).

Reading YMCA Rapids made it 17 goals and 6 points from their last 2 games after a 10-2 demolition job on Taplow Utd A.

The teenage strike pairing of Luke Buckley and Dan Sutton both contributed a brace as did returning left midfielder Dave Morrison.  Another teenager, Rob Maslen grabbed one whilst veteran Paul Towner, Ryan Tipper and Dean Williams - with his 1st for the club - completed the scoring.

Boss Paul O'Boyle said "It's great to reach double figures but the most important thing is that we're winning against the sides below us.  If we can continue to do that and take points off the top 4 then maybe we can sneak back into the promotion race."

READING YMCA RAPIDS: HARVEY, SILLEY, O'BOYLE (replaced by SANIGAR 40mins), C TIPPER, WOOD (replaced by MASLEN 55mins), WILLIAMS, KISLUK, R TIPPER (replaced by TOWNER 45mins), D MORRISON, BUCKLEY, SUTTON SUBS SANIGAR, TOWNER, MASLEN.

BOILER'S MAN OF THE MATCH - DEAN WILLIAMS

Pacey YM frontman Steve Green has taken his first MOM award for the club with a 2 goal showing in the 6-1 demolition of West Reading.