Matt Jones reflected on East Grinstead's finest triumph for more than a decade and admitted: "It wasn't good for the nerves."

Grinstead produced two astonishing comebacks on their way to being crowned national indoor champions in Birmingham on Sunday.

Trailing 5-2 with five minutes remaining against Reading in the semifinal, Grinstead forced a 5-5 draw before going through to their second final in as many years on penalty strokes.

Then in a remarkable final against Canterbury, Grinstead fought back from 5-1 down at half-time to again force a draw and take the title on strokes.

Victory was Grinstead's first indoor title since 1992 and it qualifies them for the 2007 European Indoor Championships, which will be staged next February.

Jones, who has been indoor manager for six years and also manages the outdoor team, admitted he had full confidence in his squad even when they were staring defeat in the face.

He said: "In the semi-final against Reading, there was never any point that I thought we would not win. We were very calm and always had self-belief.

"It was the same in the final. I was interviewed live on Sky at half-time and I said we could win, even though we were 5-1 down.

"A huge amount of work goes into building a squad both mentally and physically. We have built a squad over the years who we believe are talented indoor players and we have added the glue to make them work as an efficient unit.

"When you have a goal in mind and finally see the reward of that work, it gives you a tremendous amount of satisfaction and pride.

"This is the culmination of six years' work. It was a team effort from the backroom staff all the way through to the goalscorers and if you took one element out of that we wouldn't be half the side we are."

Teenage prospect Ashley Jackson was the star of the show.

He scored a hat-trick in the semi-final as Grinstead fought back to force a draw and then hit the winning penalty in the shoot-out. Mark Justice and Mike Holland were also successful while goalkeeper Giles Dakin saved Reading's second penalty.

In the final, Grinstead met Canterbury, who had beaten holders Loughborough Students on strokes in their semi-final.

Jackson's goal was Grinstead's only reward in a first-half which saw them fall 5-1 behind but they rallied after the break to score five goals in ten minutes - including three in three - with two penalty corners for captain Scott Ashdown, two from Dan Byfield and another from Jackson.

Canterbury equalised immediately and then briefly went ahead again before Ashdown converted another set-piece for his hat-trick to make it 7-7 and force penalty strokes.

Rob Playford missed Canterbury's second effort and Jackson, who picked up his young player of the year award in London yesterday, converted to clinch the title.

Jones said: "Ashley Jackson was the Beckham of English hockey on Sunday.

He was the player of the final and one of our top scorers throughout. He showed an immense amount of maturity for a player of his age.

"Ashley had not played indoor hockey before but he came to me a few months ago and said he had been to the finals at Crystal Palace last year, had seen Kwan Browne dazzle the crowd and wanted to do the same. That was not arrogance, just him wanting to achieve the next level in his career."

This success will boost Grinstead's profile. A force in the Eighties and a flop in the late Nineties, Grinstead have been on the climb for the last three years and are now back in the premier division outdoors, as well as in the last 16 of the HA Cup.

Jones said: "Winning a national title is a huge step towards promoting the club in the way we want to. We need to take the positives out of what we have achieved and use that as ammunition to build for the future.

"There is also a commercial aspect to it. The club need the necessary funding from sponsorship for what we want to achieve.

"The indoor campaign we will be putting together for Europe next year will be a serious one."