He lines-up for Reading against Surbiton in the England Hockey Cup final at Lee Valley on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London.

The Sonning Lane club had a disappointing season in the NOW: Pensions League, finishing sixth of the 10 teams, but have come good in the knock-out competition.

“We have had a very good run and it has been a tough one for the team,” said England international Shingles.

“All of our ties were away and four of them were against other Premier Division sides, so we’ve had a difficult route to get to the final and racked up a few miles along the way.” Reading will go to Lee Valley as the outsiders. They lost both games to Surbiton in the league - 2-0 at Sonning Lane and 3-1 away - and finished 25 points behind the side that took the runners-up spot in the table, only losing out to table-topping East Grinstead on goal difference.

Shingles, 28, said: “Surbiton are a strong side and have had a good season.They will be difficult opposition, as they have goal threats from all over the pitch. They will certainly be a tough test “I thought we put up two very good performances against them in the league. So fingers crossed, we can put it all together and, if everything goes right for us on the day, there is no reason why we can’t beat them in the final despite the fact they finished above us in the league.

“We believe we can put in a good performance on the day and win something for Reading.” Shingles, who is close to completing 50 combined appearances for England and Great Britain, added: “It is nice to have the final at Lee Valley, as it is a fantastic venue and all of us are looking forward to playing there.

“I’ve played in a couple of internationals there. It is a great setting. It is nice to have somewhere we can call our home stadium and hopefully there will be quite a few people there watching.” Saturday’s match starts at 3.30pm and is the fourth of five national cup finals taking place on the day, with the first at 9.30am.