WYCOMBE High School were the surprise success story of this year's National Indoor Clubs Under-19s tournament at Crystal Palace last weekend.

The team, who found themselves drawn in one of the hardest pools of the contest, ended up taking joint third.

Wycombe's opening round opponents included eventual winners Bromsgrove as well as Hightown and Portishead, but the Bucks side, one of the few schools to reach the finals, rose to the challenge.

Teacher Sue Lawrie said: "We knew we were going to have to play really well but we looked at our group and just decided to aim for the top three, which we achieved when we won one and drew one."

Although they were beaten by Bromsgrove, the girls forced a draw with Portishead in the final seconds of that game and beat Hightown.

Led by captain Georgie Josey, who recently won an England U18 call-up, the team reached the semi-finals but their excellent run ended there when they came up against Bradford.

This week, the Wycombe team added to their success by reaching the National Outdoor Finals after winning the Southern region contest on Wednesday.

They go to Milton Keynes on February 28 for the finals.

Wycombe-based Harlow Hockey Club finished their mid-season friendlies in winning style.

Vikki Leach was in fine form, hitting four of their six, in the 6-1 victory over Farnham Common.

Just four hours later Leach was in action again, scoring three for the 2nds in their 6-0 thrashing of Chalfont St Peter 6-0.

Tomorrow, they take on Gerrards Cross (10.30am) away.

Rye Ladies 2As did not have such a good end to their friendlies. They went down 1-0 to Reading, but Rye 2nds recorded a good win.

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