BEN Rhydding Men's Over 40s have reached the National Final of the England Hockey Championships for Over 40 teams and will compete for the trophy with Khalsa Leamington at the National Stadium in Lea Valley this Sunday.

Rhydding have a good history at Masters hockey, winning at the Over 50s level for the first of their three victories at Beeston ten years ago. Now with teams competing at Over 40, Over 50 and Over 60, they are looking for a fourth top level trophy for the cabinet.

With earlier round victories over Leeds Adel, Ramgarhia, Bowdon and Alderley Edge the team went into the semi-final two weeks ago as the underdogs against Old Cranleighans who had travelled from Surrey.

With just 15 minutes to go the visitors had asserted a 2-0 lead but were then shocked by two wonderful strikes by Brad King and Luke Lambert to level the scores and take the game into penalties. As Old Cranleighans struggled to hit the target, missing their second and third attempts, Ben Rhydding scored all four that were needed to book their place in the final.

Captain, Craig Smith, and player coach, Neil Sugden, are excited for the opportunity to put Ben Rhydding on the big stage again and relishing the opportunity to bring a trophy back, whilst realising they will again be up against strong opposition in Khalsa Leamington, who beat Ipswich 9-3 in the semi-final.

The match on Sunday gets underway at 10 am.