CANTERBURY Hockey Club have set their sights on a swift victory treble to ensure they don’t have to go through any last-day dramas next month.

The club reckon they need three wins to avoid being drawn into the EHL Premier 1 relegation play-offs and are aiming to get them in the next three matches.

Canterbury are at home to Surbiton this Sunday and then face a weekend double-header against Guildford and Old Loughtonians.

A hat-trick of wins would almost certainly make Canterbury safe, meaning they could relax for the final weekend of the season when they face Hampstead and Westminster, and Loughborough Students.

Skipper Stewart Keir explained: "Our plan is go all out for three victories in the next three games because we want to go in that last weekend free of any worries about relegation.

"It’s such an incredibly tight league that it’s still just possible to get into the top four but our sights are firmly set on avoiding relegation. The next three games are against sides who don’t respond well to being pressurised and the plan is to press them all over the pitch."

Canterbury need to finish out of the bottom four to avoid being drawn into the play-offs and are two places clear after their recent 4-4 draw with Chelmsford.

Winless St Albans are already doomed, with either Teddington or Firebrands looking likely to fill the second automatic relegation spot. Above them are Hampstead, Old Loughts, Canterbury and Chelmsford, all of whom are separated by just four points.

Surbiton, in fifth, are five points clear of Canterbury but the sides drew 2-2 earlier in the season and the visitors will be without their three England internationals including top scorer Matt Daly.

Keir said: "We’ve got a good record against Surbiton, having drawn the last three or four times we’ve played them and they’ll certainly miss their internationals because they do look to them."