TROJANS are England Women's Hockey League, Division 1 champions - and are back among the country's Premier Division elite.

They rounded off a stunning post-Christmas run with a title-clinching 1-1 draw at Bradford.

The result put the West Yorkshire side down and ended Trojans' six-year wait to climb back to the top table of women's hockey.

"It was a tough, tight old game," confessed Alison Wakefield who, along with Emma Teague, is the sole survivor of the Trojans team that last played in the Premier Division six years ago.

Tamsin Pascoe shot Trojans into a first-half lead, but the Stoneham girls had some defending to do in the closing stages after Bradford equalised with five minutes remaining.

"The situation was that, if Bradford beat us, they had a mathematical chance of staying up, so they certainly gave it everything until the final whistle.

"We had to defend well, but we showed just why we've got the best defensive record in the league - only 12 goals conceded in 18 games - in those closing stages," Wakefield added.

Pascoe's first-half goal - her fourth in the last five games - was a real stunner.

"Alex Danson and Lucy Steele were involved initially, but then Jude Coe unleashed a terrific ball from the left flank. It cut the Bradford defence in half.

"Tamsin made a terrific run on the right and put away a quite superb goal.

"The whole team went absolutely ballistic when Tamsin scored," bubbled an elated Wakefield.

Trojans upped their already high level work-rate and held their lead fairly comfortably - until Sara Whitehouse levelled for Bradford five minutes from the end.

It was only the second time in five matches Trojans had conceded a goal - but keeper Sara Ellis and her co-defenders ensured there was no way their rearguard was going to be breached again.

Statistically, the 1-1 draw ended Trojans' five-match winning sequence that began after Loughborough Students beat them 2-1 in February.

"But no-one cared much about that. We were up and that's all that mattered," added a jubilant Wakefield.

"It took us over five hours to get back to Southampton, but we had a good old celebration when we got back to the Trojans Club."

The draw at Bradford took Trojans' points tally to 23 out of a possible 27 in nine matches since the Christmas break, prior to which the side had struggled to score goals.

"We only scored two goals in four games either side of Christmas, but then we changed the system, putting an extra player in a linking midfield role and it paid great dividends.

"After losing to Loughborough - we were a bit unlucky to lose that one, actually - we scored 14 times in four games, a run which really triggered the push for the championship," Wakefield revealed.