Holcombe secured their spot in the play-offs in the Investec Women’s Hockey League on Saturday with a 2-1 win at the University of Birmingham.

Heather McEwan scored both their goals while Erica Sanders scored a consolation from a late penalty strike for Birmingham.

Buckingham will join Surbiton, Holcombe and East Grinstead at the Finals Weekend at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on April 28-29th.

Slough and Canterbury drew 1-1 on Saturday with Mel Clewlow and Georgina Bathurst scoring the goals.

Canterbury finished sixth and secured their premier league status for another year.

They beat Holcombe 5-0 on Sunday with a double from Penny Squibb and goals from Sarah Kerly, Mary Flint and Nicki Ball. They have now lost just once in their last 11 league games.

Hampstead & Westminster were crowned champions of the Investec Conference East after beating fellow promotion hopefuls Sevenoaks 2-1 and securing top spot with a game still to play.

Meg Byas opened the scoring on 14 minutes and Melanie Wilkinson made it two just before the break. Jess Denniff pulled one back for Sevenoaks but it wasn’t enough.

Second-placed Sevenoaks were 4-3 winners over Harleston Magpies on Saturday with goals coming from Cathy Gilliat-Smith, Jess Denniff, Maddie Thompson and Renee Ojikutu, following on from their mid-week 6-2 win at Southgate.

Picture supplied by Andrew Smith.