KENT'S men's hockey team have reached the finals of the County Championships for the first time since 1995. Under player-coach Giles Osborne, Kent won all four of their pool games at Beeston to reach the play-offs at Milton Keynes on Sunday, May 26.

There they will be joined by the three other group winners, Hampshire, Lancashire and Warwickshire. The draw for the semi-finals has still to be made.

Kent's qualification for the national finals continues their resurgence under Canterbury's Osborne, who helped guide them out of Division B during his first season in charge. The Kent squad features 10 Canterbury players and at Beeston they were in irreppressible form, beating Middlesex (7-1), Cheshire (7-3), Notts (5-3) and Worcestershire (4-3).

Canterbury's Danny Laslett finished the weekend with seven goals, while clubmates Stuart Keir and Maarten Hoog each scored three. The Canterbury contingent was completed by Osborne, goalkeepers Keir Starley and Simon Triggs, Andy Richardson, Kwan Browne, Sam Bury and Matt Harper.

Also in the squad were Kevin Johnson (Holcombe), Chris Howes (Bromley) plus former Canterbury trio Paul Wicken, Robert Playford and Andrew Dunn, all now Loughborough students.