COLCHESTER Hockey Club men's captain Rob Askam is confident that his team's strong finish to the East League division two south season indicates a bright future for them.

A 6-2 home victory against Blueharts twos was a superb way to sign off the campaign for Colchester men's first team and saw them finish in a comfortable eighth place - and crucially clear of the bottom four and hopefully the threat of relegation.

It was a result that rounded off a solid second half to the season for the team and allowed them to complete a run of four wins from their final five games.

Despite a tough opening half to the campaign, Askam said the way things had picked up in the latter part showed that they had the potential to push on even further next year and had the potential to be fighting towards the top of the table.

He said: "The second half of the season was very enjoyable; the team dynamic completely changed.

"Obviously the wins helped but beating three of the four top teams show next season we have every opportunity to be fighting for promotion.

"At the start of the season we were constantly fighting for players and commitment was not great.

"But we now have a solid team who turned up week-in week-out throughout this half of the season and it showed.

"We should be carrying the majority of the players into next season as well."

Askam is now looking for his players to look after themselves during the summer so they are in the right condition to hit the ground running when the 2019/20 season gets under way in the autumn.

He added: Fitness could be improved, but in all honestly everyone is at a quality level now that I'm happy with.

"As long as people keep their current fitness over the summer we should be OK."

But at least they can head into the break knowing the job was done this season and can be buoyed by their excellent finish to the campaign.

Goals from Ben Parker, Richard Nunn, Felix and Alfie Sexton wrapped up the win on the final day against Blueharts and Askam was pleased to see the battling spirit from the Colchester players.

The Colchester skipper said: "It was a great win and a great performance by all in the team.

"We knew we had to win and Felixstowe had to lose to put us out of the bottom four which we hope removes us from the relegation spots.

"The pressure was on but from the start we had the winning attitude."