City of Oxford Ladies secured promotion to the South League after winning a nail-biting play-off 6-5 against Hampstead & Westminster 2nd.

This caps a fantastic season for City, with all four ladies' teams winning promotion.

The play-off did not start well for City, who had finished runners-up to Oxford Hawks 2nd in Premier 1 of the Trysports Three Counties League, as Hampstead scored in the opening six minutes.

However, they levelled moments later with an excellent penalty-corner strike by Jenny Flowers.

Hampstead then stunned City by scoring three more quick goals.

City dug deep and managed to pull it back to 4-3 by half-time with goals from strikers Kirsty Brammer and Mel Baker.

They also started the second half strongly, but their hopes of an equaliser were thwarted when a penalty corner goal was disallowed.

Hampstead then looked certain to win by scoring again to make it 5-3 with 18 minutes left.

City had other ideas, however. Rachael Lammey started the comeback with a polished penalty-corner goal and City's heads were further lifted when Lucy Carp equalised after a one-on-one with the keeper to make it 5-5.

And when a short corner was awarded with six minutes to go, Lammey confidently smashed it into the backboard.

It put the Oxford side into the lead for the first time, and they held on for a dramatic victory.

"I always knew we could do it," said City captain Clare Shaw, "it was a fantastic team effort