Last week local primary school South Failsworth represented Oldham Athletic at the northern finals of the Kinder+Sport Kids Cup.
The competition saw nine other primary schools compete in the six-a-side tournament for a chance to represent their school and club prior to the Sky Bet League One play-off final in May.
South Failsworth's journey began in November, as they entered the Oldham Athletic qualifying round of the tournament, finishing top of their group and earning a place at the finals day, which was held this week at Chapel Road.
The finals day consisted of the eight best teams from this year’s competition who had progressed from their groups. The eight schools who qualified were: Hodgeclough, St Pauls, Rushcroft, St Johns, Thorp, Mills Hill, Greenhill and South Failsworth.
In Crewe, the eight boys faced teams from Rochdale, PNE, Port Vale, Scunthorpe United and Doncaster Rovers in the group stages of the northern finals. Despite an early defeat to Rochdale the boys bounced back and finished second in the group with a final total of eight points. Two particular highlights were victories against Scunthorpe United (3-0) and Doncaster Rovers (2-0).
The boys then faced Fleetwood Town in the semi-final. It was a nervey game that had to be decided on penalties. All the boys from the team showed nerves of steel and eventually beat Fleetwood which set up a final against the hosts Crewe Alexandra.
It was clear from the beginning that Oldham Athletic were fully aware of the prize at stake and throughout the entire final they played both individually and as a team at the highest quality. A 3-0 victory against Crewe meant that they were the northern winners and will now represent Oldham Athletic in May at Wembley.
The Npower Football League Kids Cup is a national tournament, with representatives from every football league club taking part, with individual clubs holding qualifying heats.
Oldham Athletic Community Trust would like to thank all of the schools for taking part in this year’s competition.