L1s were delighted with a very strong performance in the Indoor England League over the 23 and 24 January to maintain their position in the Women’s Division Two South. The City team won all of their five matches and finished top of the division because being knocked out in the play offs.

Guildford and Team Bath Buccaneers were both beaten 5-0 and second-placed East Grinstead were defeated 4-3 on Saturday, before 3-1 and 3-2 victories over Horsham and Harrow respectively were recorded on Sunday.

Captain Liane Shadrack top-scored with nine goals, with Kellie James notching up eight.

However, the City side just missed out on promotion to Division one when they lost to Brooklands Poynton in the play offs, but Liane wasn’t too disappointed, "To be honest, we just wanted to do the best we could and didn't for one minute think we could win all of our league games," said Shadrack. "We were aiming to finish in the top three or four.

In the play-offs, City found themselves 2-0 down with five minutes remaining and a last-gasp attempt to salvage something by throwing an extra outfield player on came to nothing as Brooklands Poynton added a third. Shadrack said: "We were 2-0 down and took a gamble by taking our goalkeeper off, but it gave Poynton an easy opportunity to roll the ball into an empty net once they got into our D.

"It was disappointing as, once we'd won all our games, we wanted to win again, but Poynton were a lot sharper than us.