Surbiton ladies will look to complete a remarkable first season in the WHL Premier Division when they compete in the Championship play-offs this weekend.

The Sugden Road outfit are in the showpiece finale by virtue of finishing the season in fourth spot.

Their opponents in Saturday’s semi-final, Leicester, timed their run for top spot to perfection, going top of the table for the first time this season after beating already relegated Slough 4-1 in their final league match.

Assured of European competition next season, Leicester’s next target is to be crowned league champions.

As Surbiton cannot play Leicester in the final, they would need to win the tournament to claim the second European place, and the higher team ranking.

Surbiton will go into the tournament as underdogs, but with no pressure on them, can enjoy their first experience of top flight play-off hockey.

Leicester won both league matches, 2-1 at Sugden Road, and 3-1 at Leicester Grammar School, but Surbiton can take heart from their performance in the East Midlands, where Leicester needed two late goals to deprive Surbiton of a well deserved point.

In the second semi-final, Canterbury, who led the Premier Division table for most of the season, only to finish second after losing at Surbiton on the last day of the regular season, face third placed Reading, who should be able to use their home advantage, and will be aiming to go one better than last season, when they lost to Leicester in the final.

The Championships will be played over Euro rules; over four periods of 17.5 minutes.

If the scores are level after 70 minutes, silver goal extra time will be played; and if there is still no winner, then each team will nominate five players to participate in penalty shuttles, aiming to run from the 23 metre line, and score within eight seconds.

For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit http://tickets.englandhockey.co.uk/