Horsham Hockey Club's pursuit of a remarkable double is gaining momentum.

The men clinched promotion from Kent/Sussex division one on Saturday and now have the championship in their sights.

Meanwhile, the women's superb debut season in the national league shows no sign of tailing off.

Erica Rogers scored a hat-trick on Saturday as Horsham returned to the top of the Women's National South division and they followed that with a gallant HA Cup quarter-final exit to Chelmsford on Sunday.

Horsham lost 5-0 to premier division Chelmsford in front of a large crowd at Broadbridge Heath and came out of the game with their heads held high.

Chelmsford, recently crowned national indoor champions, scored four goals in the final 15 minutes to secure a flattering win.

Horsham manager Jo Humphries said: "It was only 1-0 at half-time and it remained that way until 15 minutes from time when we brought off a defender and put on an extra attacker.

"I think 2-0, maybe three, would have been a fairer result. In patches we were a match for them in a lot of areas.

"I had an email from their manager later that evening who said we had played some really good hockey. The umpires wished us luck and said we really deserve to play at the next level up.

"We were also helped by the crowd and I would like to thank them for their support."

While the cup was nice, the real business for Horsham is the league and they returned to the top of the table with a 4-1 win over bottom side Worcester.

Fran Crossley opened the scoring from open play after just two minutes and, although that goal was cancelled out on ten minutes, a hat-trick from Rogers gave Horsham the points and lifted them back above Swansea, who surprisingly lost 2-1 at home to Firebrands, on goal difference.

With one automatic promotion place and one play-off spot up for grabs and six points separating the top five teams, there is still plenty of work to be done.

Humphries said: "We have four games to play and they will all be tough but if we play like we have done and like we can do, there is no reason why we can't win our remaining four games."

Maybe the success of Horsham's men will help spur on the women.

The men clinched promotion back to the regional league with an 11-0 drubbing of Gillingham Anchorians which keeps them one point clear of Old Williamsonians, who they entertain in a title decider on Saturday.

Mark Ansell scored six goals on Saturday as Horsham made it 11 wins on the trot and reached 100 league goals for the season in the process.

They have already broken the men's first team record of successive victories and another win on Saturday will set a club record.

Captain Ian Brown said: "It is brilliant to win promotion now and the icing on the cake will be to win the league, which is what we are really after.

"We brought in a couple of new players this year but otherwise it is the same squad.

Their dedication to go straight back up and their commitment to training to help achieve that has been outstanding.

"We will look to strengthen in the summer to go straight through the next division or at least have a good season there."

Richard Lowe (two), Simon Jones (two) and Brown got the other goals against Gillingham as Horsham boosted their record to 64 goals scored and just four conceded in eight games since Christmas.

Elsewhere in division one, Peter Burton scored four goals as South Saxons won 8-4 away to bottom side Cliftonville.

Andy Acott chipped in with a hat-trick and Toby Reed also netted.

Sussex Police and Penguin are entrenched in the bottom four after sharing a 3-3 draw.

Luke Reynolds (two) and Liam Tinkl netted for Police, who led 2-0. Dave Matthews (two) and Rob Hallett, with a penalty flick, scored for Penguin.

Ian Atkins scored from a well-worked short corner as Southwick lost 3-1 to Kings College London.