Hockey: Wicken repeats match-winning role for Loughborough

Loughborough students claimed their place in the European Indoor Championship next season with a workmanlike performance yesterday, beating Old Loughtonians 3-2 in a fifth-round EH Cup tie at Chigwell. This followed up their Higgins Group Indoor championship victory on Friday evening when they defeated Guildford 5-4.

Old Loughtonians, the runaway leaders in Division One, scored just once from 14 penalty corner attempts. Loughborough's player coach, Jason Lee, twice put his side ahead. In reply, goals came from Loughtonians' South Africans, Mike Cullen and Justin King.

But Paul Wicken, who scored Students' winner in the final against Guildford, hit the decisive goal again yesterday.

Cannock, who in Saturday's League encounter beat Teddington 9-2 with a Martin Jones hat-trick, yesterday overcame a two-goal deficit to beat Canterbury 5-3 with Jones collecting two more. Teddington themselves notched up seven yesterday, beating Nottingham 7-6 with James Webber completing his hat-trick with a 73rd-minute golden goal.

Reading, the Cup holders, marched on with a 4-0 win at Doncaster. The day's top goal-scoring feat went to Guildford's captain Danny Hall who scored four times in their 5-1 win over Southgate.

Vicki Goodacre scored three times for Slough to knock out her old side Loughborough Students 5-1 as Slough completed another good weekend's work. There was no fairy-tale ending to Worcester Norton's Cup run as Jo Ellis and Kristen Spencer both scored braces to see Ipswich through to a 5-1 win.

In the only Premier Division contest of the day Mandy Gatherer's 17th-minute goal saw Olton through to the quarter-finals at the expense of Chelmsford.