Shropshire hockey had that “so near yet so far feeling” after national and regional glory agonisingly slipped through the grasp of two teams.

Oswestry Ladies saw their dreams of success in the England Vase end at the semi-final stage as they went down 1-0 to visiting East Grinstead at Marches School.

And a fantastic effort from Shropshire girls under-17s in the Midlands Championships came up just short as they lost a tense final to Derbyshire.

East Grinstead made the early pressure count in Sunday’s semi-final at Oswestry, as they grabbed the opening goal from a short corner.

The hosts continued to surge forward in search of an equaliser and, at times, looked a real threat.

But they struggled to get off the final shot at goal and, despite a glut of short corners, couldn’t force the leveller as their lengthy run in the competition came to an end.

“It was such a shame to lose the game,” said captain Anwen Pugh.

“It was a fast-paced match with excellent skill from both teams. We had the opportunities to equalise, but sadly could not do so.”

Shropshire under-17s, meanwhile, finally translated their potential onto the big stage with a string of stunning results in the Midlands Championships in Birmingham.

Qualifying wins against Staffordshire and Worcestershire and a draw against Warwickshire left Shropshire needing a draw against Nottinghamshire to progress to the semi-finals as group winners.

And, despite falling behind, a perfectly executed penalty corner gave them the result they needed.

A 1-0 victory followed in a tense semi-final against Leicestershire, Vivi Grudde scoring, but there was no way past Derbyshire, national champions for the last four years, in the final.