Rebels captured the men?s hockey league on the weekend but it was not a win that sewed up the title for them ? it was a Police Polecats? loss suffered at the hands of the late surging Chameleons.

After struggling through much of the season, Chameleons got an injection of new blood and energy in the last month which allowed them to secure three late season wins and play league spoiler.

The Chameleons? victory meant that Police could no longer catch Rebels, who clinched the league title for the first time in five years, despite a weekend loss to BCS Panthers.

Police started their key game confidently, looking to exploit the fact that Chameleons took the field with only ten men ? and were missing six of their front-line players including goalkeeper Mark Stevens.

But Chameleons had a surprise for their rivals and greatly benefited from the return of Bill Spencer.

Spencer, sidelined for the majority of the season with a back injury, was influential in keeping things tight at the back, and enjoyed some excellent distribution to keep the Reds moving forward.

Chameleons earned a number of short corners and it wasn?t long before Peter Illston pushed out to Saul Kornik, whose successful flick shot put them into the lead.

The second half saw Police once again start the more lively, knowing full well that anything less than a victory would end their title challenge.

Chameleons were not to be outdone, however, and a tactical switch in their short corner routine over half time paid dividends.

Chameleons earned two quick short corners and the second bore fruit.

Played short to Spencer, he passed the ball to Mark Pettingill who hit the back of the net.

Police did not let their heads go down however and they battled back into the game and set up a tense finish to the match when they were awarded a penalty flick which Nigel Deane converted to take the score to 2-1 with ten minutes left to play.

Deane, who had been kept fairly quiet for the majority of the game by the man-to-man marking of the hard-working David Hosier, started to create some pressure and was unlucky after a nice bit of skill where he turned two defenders to create some space for a shot, his attempt deflected round the far post by the stretching Robert Bicknell in the Chameleons goal.

The 2-1 Chameleons win handed the league title to their long-standing rivals Rebels.

But the new champs were humbled in their own match, losing 3-2 to BCS Panthers.

Panthers slipped into second place after another Matthew Spencer hat-trick handed the young team a deserved 3-2 victory.

Panthers took the lead early in the first half when a penalty flick was awarded after some heavy stick tackling inside the Rebel?s circle.

Spencer?s resulting flick down the middle narrowly beat keeper Dennis Cherry who had chosen to dive to his right.

Rebels fought back with Mark Ray and Bert Rodney combining effectively in the middle of the field to create openings for David Gutteridge.

But it was the Panthers who doubled their lead after a series of short corners were rewarded.

Spencer received a push out from Chris Chapman and rounded the first defender to the right before finishing powerfully past a helpless Cherry.

Rebels soon had the ball in the net after Ray?s initial shot from the short corner rifled home.

But the ball was deemed to have been raised above the legal limit and the strike was disallowed.

Persistence paid off, however, when a hard cross into the Panthers circle was coolly converted by Ray at the back post moments before the half-time whistle.

In the second half, Dave Gutteridge scored an equaliser for the Rebels after receiving the ball with time and space to shoot.

But Panthers pushed forward in search of the winner and earned a short corner almost immediately.

From the resulting push-out, Spencer?s spinning shot somehow found its way through a maze of defenders and struck the backboard for the 3-2 win.

In women?s play, the only teams reporting in this week were Canaries and Swallows ?B? squads who battled to a 2-2 draw.

The first goal came from a Swallows penalty corner in the first half. Canaries responded shortly afterwards with a cross into the circle, Joanna Stapff narrowly missed a shot on goal, but luckily newcomer Susie Mills picked it up on the post.

Swallows started the second half on the attack and won a penalty stroke when a Canaries defender stopped a shot on goal with her foot. But Canaries keeper Tami Ray made a terrific save to keep the scores level.

It was not long until Swallows did successfully convert, however, and this spurred on Canaries, who gained several penalty corners resulting in their equaliser.

Georgi Barbosa hit out to Nelleke Hollis, who laid the ball off to Emma Kelly for a great shot into the back of the net