A SUCCESSFUL junior football team which has won 11 trophies in 12 years is to break up.

Pennington Athletic, coached by Dave Ward and Nick Manning, will break up because most of the squad are going to university this autumn.

Dave and Nick have run the football club since 1991, from U6s through to U18s. And the team has appeared in nine cup finals and never finished outside the top three in the Leigh & District Youth League.

Dave said: "It has been a privilege to have been in charge of them for so long and Nick and I are enourmously proud of all they have achieved. We wish all the players well in their future careers."

The boys presented the co-managers with a framed collage of photographs taken over the 12 year period.