by Mike Haymonds

SLOUGH Ladies Hockey Club earned a place in the semi-finals of the EuroHockey Club Champions Cup in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Holland, after a dramatic penalty shoot-out with the Spaniards Club de Campo Madrid.
Not expected to progress that far, Slough played some of their best hockey this season to beat Atasport from Azerbaijan 2-0 and then, having virtually qualified for the next phase, to limit defeat by the highly-favoured Dutch club Laren to just 3-0 which confirmed their quarter-final place.
Leading Club Campo 2-1, they conceded an equaliser with only three seconds remaining but held their nerve in the ten minutes of extra time and then prevailed in the new-format one on-one penalty decider, in which a player has eight seconds to beat the keeper from the 23-metre line.
The weekend was a triumph for both English clubs as Premier League champions Leicester also reached the semi-finals with a 1-0 win over the Germans Berliner HC.
Slough skipper Chloe Strong said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be in the semi-final.
“Over the past season we’ve had bad luck at times but luck was on our side this weekend and more than made up for the previous setbacks.
“Overall we played extremely well.
“In the first half of our opening game we showed signs of the improvement to come.
“We were well beaten by Laren but, against Campo, we played to our strengths and worked on not giving away possession.”
Slough made a strong start in their opening game with Atasport, keeping up a high tempo and employing a high press, and were two-up after 19 minutes.
Strong slammed home a fourth-minute penalty corner and Alex Scott added a second from the penalty spot after her own run on goal had been illegally halted.
Slough continued their domination before half time but then faced more Atasport pressure although they never really looked in danger.
Their defence was outstanding, with Mandy Nicholson, Hannah Coulson and Hannah Bowe in top form and, when their keeper Becky Duggan was called on, she made four fine saves, three from corners.
Slough’s next game against Laren was a different story as they were unable to match their previous form against a very accomplished team.
They failed to trouble the Dutch defence, rarely entering their opponents’ final third.
They won only two corners, the second of which saw Strong’s strike saved but they restricted the Dutch to two first-half goals.
Kim Lammers buried their second corner in the 13th minute and Macey de Ruiter scored a second on the half hour.
Lammers bagged her second soon after the interval but, from then on, Slough’s rearguard held firm.
Slough’s back-up goalkeeper Kate Filochowski took over for the last quarter and kept a clean sheet, including two good saves from Lammers corners.
Slough’s quarter-final win over Club Campo must rank among their finest – for performance and character – in their 28-year European history.
They made the perfect start when Lauren Penny collected an aerial ball from Strong and fired home from a tight angle after 13 minutes.
However, the Spaniards equalised ten minutes later with a corner strike by Argentinian international Carla Rebecchi.
Ashleigh Ball restored Slough’s lead in the 32nd minute with a reverse stick shot which beat the keeper for placement rather than power.
In the second half neither side gained ascendancy but for the last five minutes, with Slough down to ten following Scott’s sin-binning, Campo’s pressure was relentless.
After successfully clearing their lines till then, a moment of poor play by Slough gave Montserrat Cruz the opportunity to level the score with only seconds left.
A goalless extra time led to the penalty shoot out which started controversially.
Nicola White had two attempts with Slough’s first effort as a table official signalled the end of the allowed eight seconds prematurely.
Skipper Strong pressed the umpires for a retake while the Spaniards argued vehemently against and White got a second chance which she converted.
Ball put away Slough’s second but Scott failed with a third and, after the first barrage it was 2-2, as Duggan had saved from Rebecchi while Cruz and Agustino Di Bernardo had scored.
Sudden Death raised the tension even higher as Rebecchi and White matched each other.
Duggan stayed on her feet to force Cruz to run out of time but Ball was obstructed by the Spanish keeper and was awarded a penalty goal to send the Slough players and supporters into wild delight.

SLOUGH: Duggan, Strong, Nicholson, Coulson, Bowe, Cunningham, Greenham, Bell, Scott, Penny, Ball, White, Bevan, Shanahan, Ilkei, Filochowski.

There will be an English club in the cup final on June 11 as Slough and Leicester will contest one semi-final on the day before.
Under the rules of the competition teams from the same country are kept apart at the semi-final stage so the other semi will be an all-Dutch affair between ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Laren.