Olympic class foiled City of York Hockey Club's bid to reach the last eight of the English National Veterans' Cup.

Canterbury made the long trip up in the battle of the cathedral cities and emerged with a 2-0 win - with Great Britain golden boy Sean Kerly leaving his mark on the Minster city after grabbing the second goal.

York played with respect but were not overawed by the presence of the 1988 Olympic Games hockey hero alongside former England winger Rowley Brookman.

City of York played fluently under the lead of former Scottish international David Rowlands, knocking the ball around the pitch and creating chances with crosses from Mike Couttie on the right and Graham Cook on the left. Unfortunately, none were converted.

The lack of goals from chances took its toll on York in the second half as Canterbury stepped up a gear and pressured City into errors and infringements for a succession of short corners.

In the 44th minute, Jim Laslett put Canterbury ahead from the third of these corners and then, two minutes later, Kerly netted the second.

Good goalkeeping from Mark Burn foiled several more attempts and City then began their fightback.

But as legs tired, City played less and less on the flanks and tried to pour through the middle of the visitors' defence, where the less-mobile Canterbury defenders easily lapped up the passes and crosses.

Towards the end, Roz Ramli hit a post with an opportunist strike but that was City's last real chance to get back into the contest that surely would have impressed the respective Archbishops had they been able to make the clash.

Updated: 10:07 Wednesday, February 15, 2006