Ashleigh are spot on in shoot-out drama (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Ashleigh are spot on in shoot-out drama

4:26pm Tuesday 3rd July 2012 in Sport By Steve Tinniswood, Sports reporter

ASHLEIGH were crowned Darwen primary schools seven-a-side champions after a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Holy Trinity.

The teams couldn’t be separated in normal time – the match ended in a 0-0 stalemate – before Ashleigh went on to win 2-0 in the shoot-out.

A total of eight schools took part in the tournament which was held at St Bede’s High School.

Teams were split in to two groups with the top two going through qualifying for the knockout stages.

The final was always going to be a closely run thing if their early group match encounter was anything to go by – both sides fighting out a goalless draw.

Ashleigh went on to top Group Two with seven points having beaten both St Paul’s and St Edward’s by the same 1-0 scoreline.

Holy Trinity were runners-up with five points having also beaten St Edward’s 1-0 but were held to a 0-0 draw by St Paul’s.

St Paul’s were third thanks to their slender 1-0 win over St Edwards who were fourth.

Group One was topped by St Peter’s while Avondale took runners-up spot but only on goal difference from St Joseph’s who can count themselves unfortunate having beaten the eventual group winners in their opening match.

In the semi finals, Ashleigh beat Avondale 2-1 while Holy Trinity ran out 2-0 winners against St Peters.

It meant a rematch between the top teams in Group One and Group Two in the third/fourth play-off and the final.

The third/fourth play-off proved to be the highest scoring of the day as St Peters beat Avondale 3-0.

If that was high on entertainment then the final was high on drama with Ashleigh holding their nerve in the shoot-out.