East Grinstead immediately turned their attention to setting new goals after an historic season came to a close.

The English outdoor and indoor champions ended their campaign by losing 3-2 to HC Bloemendaal in the quarter-finals of the EuroHockey League on Sunday.

This season marked Grinstead’s first venture into European outdoor competition and, having progressed from the group stages, they impressed onlookers in Hamburg as they beat French champions Saint Germain in a last 16 clash on Friday before twice leading against Bloemendaal, who were one of the pre-tournament favourites.

Having completed a domestic double and secured European berths for both disciplines for next season in the process, Grinstead could not have asked for more from this season but manager Matt Jones insists the hunger is there to push on further.

He said: “Our performance against Bloemendaal has given us a fabulous benchmark from which we can gauge where we are in European competition.

“As much as it has been fantastic to get through to the last eight, that was by far the sternest test against one of the top continental sides who have won the previous version European cup a number of times.

“It is tremendously disappointing to lose out in the dying seconds of the game, having led 2-1 with 14 minutes to go. On the flip side they had plenty of possession and their penalty corners outweighed us 10-2.

“There is obvious disappointment but at the same time a huge amount of pride in what we have achieved.

“The next set of objectives has to be to try to retain the national outdoor and indoor titles, to try to get promotion from the European Champions Trophy indoor into the A division next February and to try to improve upon our current EHL ranking to get through to the last four next year.

“As much as we are hungry and incredibly driven to develop and improve we are also realistic. We know how much work has gone into getting where we are and we are absolutely aware how much more work and financial support we will need to take the club to the next level.”

Danny Hall gave Grinstead the lead against Saint Germain only for goals by Martin Genestet and Jean Baptiste Pauchet to turn the game on its head. Martin Haener then levelled with six minutes to go before Hall scored a last-minute winner.

Against Bloemendaal Hall and Dave De Prez twice put Grinstead ahead, with the latter’s goal being one of the best of the weekend, but Wouter Jolie twice levelled before Nick Meijer hit a winner with two minutes to go after Mark Pearn had been sent to the sin bin.

The weekend marked the end of Haener’s year-long stay with East Grinstead as the German international now returns to club hockey in his homeland with Berlin.

Replacing him will be among the key issues facing the management team this summer. Jones added: “Martin has made a fantastic contribution in both disciplines and that is a hole that needs to be filled. We are in discussions with various players who have approached us.”