Merseyside Champions, Mosslands School U12 five a side team, competed in the Area B North West Finals on Saturday 7^th February for a place at the national finals in March.   Other schools from the North West area had sent their best teams to challenge for the prize of taking part in the national finals, Baines school, (Lancashire winners) Christleton High School, (Cheshire winners) Hipperholme and Lightcliffe High School, (West Yorkshire winners) and Audenshaw (Greater Manchester winners) were all pitched against the Merseyside champions. 

The Mosslands team, consisting of Shea Lockyer(GK), Sam Hughes, Alex Lowe (CPT), Richard Purkis, Lewis Warrington, Calum Campbell, Anthony Evans and Jason Jackson, travelled to the Lucozade Powerleague arena in Manchester to represent Merseyside and Mosslands School to progress in the next step of their journey to Derby on March 2^nd. 

In the games that followed Mosslands beat Hipperholme 2-1 in a tight affair settled by two goals from Lewis Warrington.  Mosslands then went on to beat Baines school 2-0, with Warrington grabbing two more goals, but only after two goals had been disallowed (due to players being inside the penalty area) and an excellent goalkeeping display from Lockyer.  In the third game Sam Hughes scored an excellent individual goal against Christleton and Warrington made it 2-0 to Mosslands before the whistle.  This meant that with 9 points and other teams faltering Mosslands just needed to avoid defeat to progress as overall champions of the North West Area B.  The final, crucial game of the day against Audenshaw, which finished 2-2 with more goals from Sam Hughes and Lewis Warrington, resulted in Mosslands School being awarded the winners medals and the chance to challenge for the title of National U12 five a side champions.  Every member of staff on the day commented on the way in which the boys applied themselves, saying that they had the commendable balance of sportsmanship, talent and resilience to succeed.

As the coach I was incredibly proud of the team, they are excellent examples of the pupils of Mosslands School.  They were gracious in victory and confident in their own ability.  Their attitude to staff, referees and the opposition was superb and they are a pleasure to work with both on and off the pitch.