Star striker Les Reed has shattered a City of York Hockey Club record after scoring an incredible 11 goals in one game.

Richard Tanner-Smith made the headlines last year with his nine against Ben Rhydding VI to take the club record but Reed obliterated that with three in the first half and eight in the second in a 21-0 thumping of Bradford University.

Reed, an Army staff sergeant based in Beverley but living in York, joined the club this time last year and ended up as top scorer with 27 goals, including five consecutive hat-tricks for the VIIIs - his fifth on the same day as Tanner-Smith's nine.

But despite a move up to the VIs in division seven of the Yorkshire League, that ratio has shown no signs of diminishing, and he is already on target for a second golden stick trophy after amassing 26 goals in just seven games.

The 43-year-old said: "We knew that the team we were playing had conceded a lot of goals so we wanted to win by a lot to put us back in contention in the league.

"I said jokingly to Richard Tanner-Smith that I would try to beat his record and he was actually umpiring the game. I couldn't tell you what he said afterwards.

"I got something like six goals and they said that I was on for the record and the support I got off them to help me get there was amazing. It was a shock really."

A younger Reed once knocked in 14 goals while serving abroad in Germany some 18 years ago but he does not think he will be getting that many again.

He laughed: "I'd like to, but I was a lot younger then."

The high-point of his hockey career came four years ago during a two-week international tournament in Barbados for the Army, and he still plays for the Army Veterans side on a regular basis.

Reed, who started playing 19 years ago after switching from ice hockey to the "girl's game" of field hockey, added: "I would just like to thank City of York - especially the sixth team - for their support right from the beginning of the season. They give me the ball and I just stick it in the net.

"I would really like this team to get promoted."

Updated: 10:42 Tuesday, November 30, 2004