Lifestyle Ford sponsored East Grinstead warmed up for their European cup campaign with a return to winning ways in the premier division. After two games without a win, Grinstead got the perfect send off for their trip to Paris with a 3-0 win away to Hampstead and Westminster.

The first round of the EuroHockey League takes place at St Germain Hockey Club this weekend with Grinstead hoping to progress as one of two teams from a group of three which also includes former European champions Amsterdam and Polish outfit KS AWF Poznan.

The defending champions remain three points behind leaders Surbiton in the domestic league and manager Matt Jones was delighted with the outcome from a tough trip to London. He said: “There were a few objectives we needed to complete and the key one was to get three points. “We knew that would be tough away to Hampstead who are a very tenacious side with some quality individuals and well organised with Todd Williams back as coach.

“We also needed to put in a professional, disciplined, focused display and that is exactly what we did. We could not have wished for a better response to the questions which have been asked of us over the last two weeks. “Certainly ahead of Europe it was vital to get a result and demonstrate what we are capable of if we put our minds to a certain gameplan.

“We have a few gameplans up our sleeve and we can employ them at will to cater with most threats.” Goals have not been a problem for Grinstead this season, with 21 in their four games before Sunday, but they had conceded 18 in that same period.

Jones was not happy with the amount of short corners they conceded but still pleased with a much improved defensive display. He added: “They had six penalty corners to our one but we scored from ours and they didn’t score from any. Richard Potton was in fine form in goal. “Going forward we created a lot of opportunities from open play but we were a lot more measured in our attacks. If you attack for 70 minutes you will score a lot of goals but you will also concede a few.”

Ben Payne gave Grinstead an early lead, Gareth Carr added a second midway through the second half and player-coach Mark Pearn hit the third nine minutes from time.