Canterbury's Kwan Browne celebrates his side's dramatic last-gasp victory against Brooklands. Picture: Ady Kerry

By Alex Hoad

Canterbury player-coach Kwan Browne says the team’s dramatic final-day EHL Premier Division relegation reprieve could spur them on to a title challenge next year – so long as they can complete the great escape.

Tom Butt and Michael Farrer scored the goals as Canterbury beat Manchester side Brooklands 2-1 in a winner-takes-all battle on Sunday. Farrar's winner – which earned Canterbury’s third win of the season and a place in the EHL promotion tournament – incredibly came after the final whistle with the final play of the game.

Browne said: "It was an unbelievable finish, to do it when it was all-or-nothing was incredible. There was so much pressure on that penalty corner, no matter how many times you practice the moves in training you can never replicate the pressure."

He added: "We celebrated the goal because it was obviously so important, but not as much as we might have done because of respect for our opponents. We all felt for them, it was a terrible end for them."

Canterbury now face Conference West winners University of Exeter on Saturday, April 30, Conference East winners Southgate the following day, and Conference North winners Durham University on Monday, May 2. The four teams vie for two places in next season’s Premier Division.

Browne said: "We have four weeks until our first game and we are going to prepare exactly as we did last year when our preparation was just right.

"It is going to be even tougher this year than it was last year, we faced Exeter and Southgate last year and beat them, they are tough games, but confidence is high going in after the last two matches.

"This season was so disappointing and we don’t want to be in that position again. We know on our day we can beat any team in the Premier League and compete for the title. We’ll do everything possible to make that happen."