SLOUGH have put themselves in with a great chance of reaching the Premier Division of the Investec Women's League, writes Dave Wright.

The Conference East champions won the first of their three promotion play-off matches when defeating Bowdon Hightown 2-1 in Nottingham on Sunday.

Bowdon finished ninth in the Premier Division and, on paper at least, it looked to be their toughest of the tournament.

The Pink and Blacks did not get off to the best of starts with Kim Tanner firing the Cheshire side ahead with just five minutes on the clock.

Slough responded well and drew level in the 17th minute through a goal from Lizzy Totten. Their winner came from Harriet Ward five minutes into the second-half.

Bowdon, who had beaten Reading 5-3 in their last match of the regular season, battled hard to get back on terms but could not break down a solid and well-organised Slough defence.

This win has given the Upton Court Road outfit a major confidence boost going into their next two games, but they certainly will not be taking things for granted. They will well remember what happened in the corresponding tournament 12 months ago.

Slough won their opening game 3-0 against Wakefield thanks to a hat-trick of penalty corners from Philipa Newton, but were then hammered 7-1 by East Grinstead before drawing 1-1 in their final game. This left them third in the table and they failed to go up.

Captain Kat McGonigle and her team were left broken-hearted and determined not to let it happen this time around.

Game number two is on April 16 when they face Sutton Coldfield at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre at Olympic Park. Then the following day, Slough meet Wakefield, the Conference North champions, at the same venue.

Conference West champions Sutton Coldfield also got their play-off campaign off to a successful start last weekend, defeating Wakefield 3-2.

The sides who fill the top two places in the tournament will be promoted to the Premier Division for next season.

Slough men completed their MBBO Regional Two campaign with a 2-2 home draw against West Hampstead 2s, their goals coming from Bobbie Bansal and Robbie Saini.

Bansal took his tally for the season to 20 goals, the fourth-highest in the league, but nine behind the winner, teammate Rai Singh.

Between them they have scored 49 of Slough's 71 goals, and to have two players in the top four of the scoring charts is an outstanding achievement.

The team finished with 10 wins, two draws and 10 defeats, leaving them sixth in the table.