Holcombe secured promotion into the Premier Division in style with an emphatic 8–2 victory over Brooklands Poynton, in the first Investec Women’s Hockey League Play-Off match of the day.

The game started at a fast pace with both teams looking threatening in attack. Holcombe got the early breakthrough after just 11 minutes, when Megan Frazer rounded the keeper to set up a tap in for Nicci Daly on the back post.

Holcombe doubled their lead 18 minutes later with a fantastic individual goal from Shelley Russell, firing on her reverse stick, low into the bottom right hand corner. Towards the end of the first half, there was some sustained pressure from Brooklands but the Holcombe defence remained strong and the score stood at 2 – 0 going into the break.

Holcombe started to dominate possession in the second half. A penalty stroke calmly converted by Lucy Wood, followed by a well worked penalty corner routine, finished by Frazer, soon meant the score was 4 – 0. A further three goals for Holcombe in the space of four minutes from Steph Elliot, Frazer and Russell saw the score stand at 7 – 0.

Brooklands pulled back a goal on 64 minutes after they countered quickly from a defensive penalty corner. Cat Savage lifted the ball over England International Maddie Hinch from close range, after the initial strike from their penalty corner was blocked.

Frazer rounded off a fantastic individual performance with her hat-trick in the 66th minute firing a reverse stick strike into the top corner. However, it was Brooklands who grabbed the last goal of the game in the final minute, when Savage bagged a brace, skilfully lifting the ball over Hinch after she was put through on goal. The final score stood at 8 – 2 and Holcombe celebrated as their promotion up to the Premier Division for the 2014/15 season was secured.

Speaking after the game Holcombe Captain Leigh Maasdorp was delighted with her team’s performance, “It’s been a good tournament for us. Our first game we started off with a draw from Sutton Coldfield which put us in good standing for this weekend, we knew we’d have to work a lot harder and put some good performances in if we wanted to win the tournament and get promotion to the premier division.”

Adding her thoughts on playing in the Investec Premier Division next season she added, “We’ll be looking at a little break before next season and then we’ll regroup in July/August and start building towards our season in the prem. We’re relishing the opportunity to play against some of the top teams, it’s such an exciting place to be for the team, and the club, so we’re really looking forward to what’s to come.”

Picture supplied by England Hockey.

Play-Off tournament standings