Holcombe 4 East Grinstead 2

HOLCOMBE made it into the quarter-finals of the English Hockey Cup with a 4-2 win over East Grinstead on Sunday.

Goals from Kevin Johnson and South African international Greg Nicol after four and six minutes got Holcs off to a flying start.

But East Grinstead hit back with a goal from a short corner just before half time to put the game on a knife edge.

The game was effectively settled after the break when the Grinstead keeper was sent off for fouling Chris Bassano-Harper.

Bassano-Harper picked himself up to score the resulting penalty stroke and Kevin Johnson made it 4-1 with a superb shot 10 minutes from time.

The visitors grabbed a consolation goal in the final minute.

Holcs were paired against Loughborough Students in the last eight, who beat Firebrands 2-0 with second half strikes from Alastair Wilson and Glenn Kirkham.

All quarter-final ties will be played on January 30.