Magpies were one of three teams tied at the top with ten points but they missed out on the two promotion places, as their goal difference was only plus-four, compared to Cardiff UWIC and Durham University who both had plus-seven.

Saturday's loss to Durham was only Harleston's second defeat of the season after they cruised to the East League Premier A title with 21 wins out of 22.

They finished with a flourish by beating Harborne 3-2 on Saturday and Cardiff 3-1 on Sunday but just fell short of returning to the England Hockey League (EHL) after a seven-year absence.

"We're gutted," said Magpies manager Robert Stimpson.

"We've had a marvellous season, where we've won our league by a mile and just had one bad game on Saturday, which has cost us.

"Durham are a good side and it was just one of the days we didn't turn up. We should have probably won the Harborne game by more goals but I sure most teams in the play-offs are thinking 'what if?'.

"It was an excellent performance against Cardiff but we had to win by four clear goals. It is disappointing not to go up after all the hard work that everyone has put in."

The Magpies have gone agonisingly close to winning the East League Premier A title in the last two seasons, when the champions were automatically promoted to the National League, only to denied in the final run-in.

This year they cruised to the league title but had to make do with a place in a six-team round-robin play-off series, as the EHL is being restructured, with only two promotion places up for grabs.

Magpies went into the weekend's three-game finale at Cannock with four points after drawing with South champions Fareham 2-2 and winning 6-2 at Hull, who were fighting off relegation from the EHL.

After losing their opening game to North champions Durham they bounced back the next day with a 3-2 win against Midland League title winners Harborne, with a hat-trick from ace marksman Andy Hipwell.

Magpies knew they had to beat league-leaders Cardiff by four goals in their last game on Monday to ensure promotion but had to settle for a 3-1 win, with a brace by Tristan Baynes and a goal from England U18 international Carl Sitch.

Harleston were left to hope that Durham did not beat tournament whipping boys Kingston upon Hull by more than one clear goal but to Magpies' dismay they triumphed 5-1.

Although down, Magpies captain Leigh Sitch insisted his team would not dwell on falling at the last hurdle.