Horsham Ladies have retained their national league status.

After seven play-off games Horsham have preserved their place in the Women's National South division for next season.

They won through a two-legged play-off to qualify for a six-team round-robin tournament which pitched them into action with five regional league hopefuls.

Horsham took a draw and a win from their first two matches before winning all three games at UWE in Bristol over the bank holiday weekend to finish top of the group.

Fran Crossley scored twice with captain Zeph Fisher getting the other as Horsham made the best possible start to the weekend with a 3-0 win over Southgate on Saturday.

Crossley then hit four goals on Sunday as Horsham beat Lansdown 4-1 to leave them all but guaranteed a top-two finish in the tournament, which they needed to retain their national league status.

That was confirmed on Sunday with a 6-0 drubbing of Springfield UCLAN when Erica Rogers scored a hat-trick. Crossley chipped in with another two to make it eight for the weekend while Andrea Scott completed the rout.

Horsham's success means Sussex will at least have one women's representative in the national league next season which is a major boost for the county.