LOUGHBOROUGH RECOVERY TOO LATE by Peter Savage at Club Egara PLUS report from Peter Colwill in Paris

There had been accusations that all the matches the English teams have played in at the EuroHockey League here at Club Egara have been boring and the same accusation looked as if it might be directed at the match between Uhlenhorster and Loughborough Students. That was until the second half. The early exchanges had never really threatened either side but in the second quarter Philip Witte opened the scoring for the Germans. The main difference between the two sides came down to experience. Loughborough Students are rebuilding at the moment and it was a turnover in their opponents 25 - the result of holding the ball unnecessarily long - that lead to Ulenhorster’s second goal. The scorer Philip Witte. The Germans looked as if they were going to claim a third but were thwarted by a fine save by Ali McGregor in goal. That could have been a turning point. With three minutes left Chris Gregg found the net for the Students and after that it was all one-way traffic. The Germans had the recent memory of nearly throwing the match away in the last seconds when they played Kelbourne on Friday and their obvious nervousness in the closing minutes did much to help the Students cause. Jerome Goudie was subjected to an unnecessarily physical tackle outside of the ‘D’ but the umpire decided that it was deserving of a corner. Nothing came of that but seconds before the full-time hooter sounded, Students were awarded another penalty corner and then a second. Unfortunately, the ball was struck wide at the second attempt. Uhlenhorster qualify for the finals. For Loughborough Students it is the long road to re-qualify. Final score: Uhlenhorster 2 Loughborough Students 1.

Our photograph shows the final act of the saga as umpire Francisco Vazquez Lopez signals that the ball has gone wide and the match is over.

REPORT FROM PETER COLWILL AT THE WOMEN’S EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP IN SAINT GERMAIN EN LAYE.

Slough 2 CD Terrassa 2

Slough are in the final of the Women's European Cup Winners Cup where they will play either Berliner or Amsterdam but their passage was anything but comfortable. Needing only to avoid a two goal defeat after Glasgow Western had beaten Kolos Borispol 1-0 they suffered a disastrous start. Raquel Huertas Soler flicked two penalty corners into the roof of the Slough net in the first 15 minutes. A fortunate break allowed Slough back into the match a few minutes later. Isabel Barguno Vidal, the Terrassa goalkeeper, failed to deal with a speculative cross and Jane Smith pounced to the delight of Slough's supporters who broke into their chant of "Nice one Smithy". Slough changed their goalkeeper at half time bringing on Sarah Ellis for Lynette Smith but it was a goal-line save by Mandy Nicholson from antoher Soler corner which kept their hopes alive. At the other end Smith hit the post from a corner and Harriett Cunningham who threatened throughout, blazed the ball over the bar. With five minutes remaining Slough booked their place in the final with an equaliser which owed much to a fine advantage by Irish umpire Carol Metchette. Smith was badly impeded following up her shot at a penalty corner but Purdy Miller slipped in to score her third goal of the tournament.