Player-coach Kwan Browne was full of optimism after Canterbury’s men moved a step closer to a place in the Wembley finals of the Maxinutrition Hockey 5s Championship.

After four of their eight indoor games in Birmingham, the city club sit fourth in the national Premier Division table, with one of the top-four places in the finals in February within their grasp.

Despite a last-gasp 7-6 defeat to Reading and an even later 8-7 loss to East Grinstead, Canterbury beat Loughborough Students 8-3 and Doncaster 11-5.

The city club face Holcombe, Sevenoaks, Bowdon and Beeston in the final four games in early January and Browne said: “We are in a good position. Six points from the weekend is OK. We could be sitting here with 12, we should have won all our games but are not too worried.

“We didn’t take our chances against Reading and East Grinstead but we could easily have won. EGs scored in the last second and Reading in the last 15 seconds.

“It’s all about being in that top-four and getting to Finals Day. We’re not too bothered about winning the league. Last year we needed to win our last game to come top but we still picked players who had not played as much throughout the tournament, which gives some indication of how we feel about it.”