An excellent performance from Leigh Maasdorp’s Holcombe saw them run out 4-0 winners over Edinburgh University and thus guarantee themselves a place in the EuroHockey Club Trophy on Easter Monday against Club Campo de Madrid – who were 9-0 winners over Waterloo Ducks on Sunday morning.

Charlie the service dog was one of a number of mascots leading out the two teams at the request of Holcombe’s ladies first team, who may be requesting his presence again tomorrow given his being a good luck charm as Holcombe kept their first clean sheet of their retention campaign.

Despite the very best efforts of goalkeeper Katherine Goddard, Holcombe were clearly the superior side in front of their home fans and would have had more goals on another day.

The lack of advantage being played by umpires in this tournament has been a serious cause for concern, whilst Dirkie Chamberlain must have had five or six efforts well saved by Goddard as well as striking the post – an effort which the Holcombe supporters – for the most part – thought had come back out of the goal after striking the backboard.

To be truthful, the scoreline should have reflected much worse upon the University’s poor display, with Goddard’s performance the only saving grace after a slow Holcombe start.

Maasdorp’s side had the better of the first quarter but failed to capitalise on two penalty corner attempts after struggling to create any clear-cut opportunities from open play.

An eighth minute set piece saw some good defending from the Scottish side before Beth Bingham deflected narrowly wide at another with just two minutes to play until the end of the first quarter.

It wasn’t until midway through the second half that the hosts scored their first goal after a good save from Goddard to deny Wales captain Leah Wilkinson after a fast restart by Holcombe.

Chamberlain and Wilkinson were involved in the 25th minute when the lead was finally taken, as Wilkinson fired under the goalkeeper following excellent work from the South African forward to create the chance.

Just a minute later, Steph Elliott forced a superb save from Goddard with a diving deflection before the visitors escaped without conceding a short corner for a clear foul, leaving Holcombe with a fragile lead at the half time break – though a draw would have been enough to see them through to the Final.

Another fast start followed the ten minute break, with the second goal coming just three minutes into the second half.

Chamberlain won a penalty corner after a brilliant run before that effort led to another set piece – with Welsh international Bingham eventually firing home from close range despite two good saves to deny Sofia Viarengo and then Pippa Lewis.

The hosts were beginning to dominate and the atmosphere grew with Holcombe’s territorial gains. Chamberlain forced three saves from Goddard then in three minutes, with each effort seemingly taking Chamberlain closer to an inevitable goal after an impressive display but it wouldn’t come.

A penalty corner routine then saw Chamberlain force another save from Goddard before the Edinburgh outfit broke and created a good chance of their own but a good save from Rose Thomas followed by the quick reactions of her defence ensured that Holcombe maintained their clean sheet.

It was yet another fast start in the fourth quarter that saw Holcombe score their third goal.

Emma Trunks gave Goddard no chance with a slapped effort from the top of the circle to net her second goal of the tournament, after scoring an almost identical goal yesterday.

The pressure continued to build in the final period and Maasdorp’s side should have scored more as Jo Westwood and Chamberlain forced more saves from Goddard before another penalty corner routine saw the hosts come close to a fourth.

Laura Myers made her first appearance of the tournament, replacing Thomas between the posts late on which was shortly followed by a goal for Sofia Viarengo – her third in her last five matches.

That was virtually the last real action of the game with another blatant penalty corner not being given in the last few minutes, leaving Holcombe top of the pool after the University College Dublin surprisingly lost 3-2 to Dinamo-COP Moscomsport earlier in the day.

Monday’s fixtures:

08:30 – Edinburgh University vs MSC Sumchanka

10:45 – Dinamo-COP Moscomsport vs HC Victorya Smolevichi

13:00 – University College Dublin vs Waterloo Ducks

15:15 – Holcombe vs Club Campo de Madrid