Keith Martin admits he will have to pinch himself when Holcombe’s men aim to become the undisputed kings of English hockey this weekend.

Martin, the 1st XI manager, captained the Medway side more than 40 years ago when they first started playing league hockey.

Now his side are heading to Lee Valley Hockey Centre in London’s Olympic Park for the end-of-season play-offs.

Martin said: “It’s the culmination of the English hockey season and it’s the first time ever for us.

“It’s been our first time in the Premier League and winning the league this year, who’d have thought it when I was captain in 1972/73 when league hockey first started?

“You have to pinch yourself to realise we’ve come so far in the last 15 or 16 years since moving to our new HQ at Holcombe Park.”

Holcombe were crowned league champions when the regular season finished more than a month ago, finishing seven points clear at the top.

They’ve already qualified for Europe but the prize for this weekend’s winners is a passage straight through to the last-16 of next season’s competition.

Martin said: “It’s been five weeks without any games for the guys. It’s a huge break and you always worry about match fitness when you come to tournaments like this.

“We’re lucky that we’ve got a few internationals in the Great Britain set-up, so they’ve been playing quite a lot of games.

“The guys all had a training routine to do on their own and we’ve met several times for training sessions. We played a friendly last Sunday at Surbiton and we trained at Lee Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday to give us more comfort on the pitch that we’re going to be using.”

Holcombe play Wimbledon at 11am on Saturday, with Surbiton or Reading awaiting the winners in Sunday’s final.

Holcs were three places and 12 points above Wimbledon in the regular season but that counts for little at Lee Valley.

Martin said: “They’ve got six GB internationals in their side as well, so we’re fairly well matched. It’s about what happens on the day.

“One of the worries is that we haven’t been playing a lot of games but the guys are pretty professional.

“Wimbledon went to the European Championships over Easter and got knocked out in the last-16 by Amsterdam, so they’ve had a few games more.

“We relish the challenge and we’ve got everybody fit.

“Although we’ve already qualified for Europe, it would be nice to round off the season by winning the whole thing.”