By Steve Tervet

History beckons for Canterbury Hockey Club this weekend as the men’s team bid to qualify for Europe for the first time.

Two play-off games at Reading stand between Canterbury and continental hockey in 2013-14 and the significance of the occasion is not lost on captain Michael Farrer.

He said: "It would be incredible. The men’s club has never been in Europe so it would be a piece of history.

"Since Christmas, we’ve been aiming for the top-four, given the good start we had. To have achieved that in our first year back in the Premier Division is great.

"We hoped that if we got things right, we could surprise a few people. There’s no point being in the top league and just hoping to survive. We want to take this club forward."

Canterbury meet Surbiton at 5.30pm on Saturday for the right to meet league winners Beeston or host club Reading in Sunday’s final.

The spoils were shared between the two teams during the regular season, with Canterbury winning 2-1 at Surbiton but losing the return fixture 3-2 on home soil.

Farrer said: "I’m expecting another tight game. They had a bad start to the season but seem to have been in good form since Christmas.

"We haven’t played our best in either game against them but I’m hopeful we can bring our best performance this weekend."