Hockey: East Grinstead hit top form

12:50pm Tuesday 27th February 2007

East Grinstead have returned England to the top flight of European indoor competition for the first time in nearly a decade.

Not since St Albans in 1998 have England had a representative in the A division of the European indoor championships.

Grinstead exceeded expectations to achieve promotion as runnersup in the B division - the Champions Trophy - with an outstanding effort in Brussels over the weekend.

They won four of their five matches, with their one loss to Swiss side Luzerner ultimately costing them overall victory.

Ashley Jackson was top scorer in the competition with ten goals and Dave de Prez also finished in the top five scorers of all the teams competing with a tally of six.

Grinstead manager Matt Jones said: "What we have achieved is above and beyond our expectations.

"Our key objective going into the weekend was to retain England's Champions Trophy status. To go one step beyond that and achieve promotion is a fantastic achievement not just for East Grinstead but for indoor hockey in England as a whole.

"It is another huge step in the club's development. To put our skills against some of the best teams in Europe was a marvellous opportunity and hopefully we can look forward to achieving the same outdoors as well."

Jones was quietly confident his players would not let England down in Belgium but even he could not have predicted how well they would do.

Grinstead, who were representing England as 2006 national champions, opened their campaign with a 5-3 defeat of SC Stroitel Brest of Belarus and followed that with a crushing 8-2 victory over host nation representatives Royal White Star.

The crunch game was their final pool match against Luzerner, who triumphed 5-2 in a match Grinstead could have won.

The result against Luzerner, which left Grinstead finishing second in their pool, was also carried forward to the play-off pool for the top two teams in each group. Grinstead won both their remaining matches, 6-2 against SK Slavia Praha of the Czech Republic and 4-1 over Ukraine outfit Kolos-Sekvoya Vinnitsa, but finished second behind the Swiss side on the basis of the earlier pool game.

Jones said: "We created more opportunities than Luzerner but we failed to take them. If we had taken half the chances we created we would have beaten them. That was our blip game.

"But there is no point looking back. We did tremendously well and every individual played a part."

Canterbury, as 2007 national champions when they beat Grinstead in the final, will represent England in the A division next year, which is disappointing for the Sussex outfit but something they knew going into the weekend.

Jones said: "It is unfortunate we won't be able to pick up the rewards for winning and get a crack at the best of the best next year.

"But we have achieved our key objective and more and hopefully in two years' time we may be back to represent England again.

"What we have done shows indoor hockey in England is moving in the right direction and it has happened on the eve of England Hockey reforming the national side which will be ready to compete in 2008."

Jones hailed Grinstead's travelling support in Brussels as a key factor in their success.

He added: "We had about 50 of our supporters who had made it out there and they made an enormous difference.

"They out-supported every other national there and truly were the seventh person on the pitch for us."

With indoor duties for the season now completed, Grinstead resume their assault on outdoor honours in two competition this weekend.

They travel to Hampstead and Westminster in the premier division on Saturday, still chasing a European place, and visit Canterbury in the quarter- finals of the EH Cup on Sunday.

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