Kwan Browne believes his East Grinstead team can flourish in the top flight of English hockey.

First, though, Grinstead must win a two-legged play-off against Teddington in Nottingham this weekend.

Grinstead's fortunes have been turned around since the appointment of Browne, the Trinidad and Tobago national captain, as player-coach two years ago.

One of the top teams in England in the Eighties, Grinstead had been struggling for a number of seasons prior to Browne's arrival.

Promotion in his first campaign has been followed by the Saint Hill club winning National premier two this season.

However, under the restructuring of the National League, that does not guarantee them promotion.

Instead, they must face a Teddington team who improved in the second half of the season to finish third from bottom in premier one.

Browne, who spent several seasons playing in the top division with Canterbury, said: "We knew what we had to do at the start of the season, that we would still have to go into a play-off even if we won the league.

"It is the only time this has happened but we just have to get on with it.

"When we won the league it was like, 'Yeah, we've won the title but we've still got to get promoted'. I believe we are good enough to play in the premier division and we are good enough to finish mid-table.

"But we want more than that and with the addition of three or four players, who we have in the pipeline, I think we will have a very good side to compete in that division."

Grinstead play Teddington in the first leg at Highfields at 6pm tomorrow, then tackle them again at 5.30pm on Sunday.

Teddington will be trying to protect their proud record as the only team not to drop out of the top division since the National League started and they will take on Grinstead with a squad reinforced in the closing stages of the season.

After winning just twice in the first half of the campaign, they made signings over the winter break and also brought in ex-Great Britain captain Jason Laslett, who helped them win their final three games of the season to avoid automatic relegation.

Malaysian forward Chua Boon Huat, alongside Laslett, poses the biggest danger to Grinstead, who cancelled a warm-up match against Canterbury last Saturday to avoid injuries. Dwain Quan Chan and Dillet Gilkes, Trinidad and Tobago international colleagues of Browne, have knocks along with Andrew Medcalf but all three were expected to train last night.

Browne said: "I have been assistant coach of Trinidad but I have never had the opportunity to coach at the highest level in the premier division so, for me personally, promotion would be great.

"But it is not about me, it is about the players, many of whom started playing during the slump and were used to just losing, losing, losing.

"We have only lost three games in the last two years and have not lost at home.

"I know the hard work and passion these players have put in to turn things round. For them to win the league by so many points and not go up would be very hard to take.

"We need to get a good start against Teddington and, if we do, we can play a little bit more defensively in the second game.

"That is not something we are used to here but it is something we have been practising in the last few games ready for this."