Hockey: Slough's title treble

SLOUGH COMPLETED a unique treble at Milton Keynes yesterday when they beat Fyffes Leicester 4-3 in the EHA Cup final to add to their National Indoor and National League titles.

In an evenly contested game, Leicester opened the scoring after nine minutes when Sarah Blanks claimed the first of her three goals when she picked up a through ball from Jo Mould.

Three goals at penalty corners, two from Mandy Nicholson and the other from Jane Smith, moved Slough ahead before Blanks took advantage of a goalkeeping error by Lynette Smith to pull a goal back on the interval.

Two minutes into the second half Blanks completed her hat-trick after being put through by the 17-year-old Helen Richardson.

As both teams contested for the winner there were near misses at both ends. First, Purdey Miller and then Blanks squandered opportunities inside a minute for Leicester before Slough's Dutch winger, Monique Slootmaekers, collected a precision free-hit from outside the circle to score the winner with five minutes remaining.

Both sides will represent England in Europe next season.

Results, Digest, page 5