HUNCOAT ‘A’ will battle it out with Mellor to find out the best school team in Hyndburn and Ribble Valley.

Huncoat were crowned Hyndburn champions and will now represent the borough in the Danone Cup run by the English Schools FA.

And they will also play Mellor – winners of the Ribble Valley competition – in the Stanley Trust Cup final at Accrington Stanley home in the new year.

The year five/six competition, run by Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Schools Sports Partnership in conjunction with Accrington Stanley Community Trust, included 14 teams.

Teams were split in to two groups of four and two groups of three with the top two from each progressing to the knockout stages.

Group A was won by St Marys Oswaldtwistle with West End A finishing second.

Huncoat won all three of their group games and were safely through, joined by Benjamin Hargreaves from group B.

Helmshore A won group C with Peel Park A finishing as runners-up and St Nicholas won group D with St John St Augustine joining them.

The quarter finals were tight affairs with three of the four games won by a single goal.

St Marys Oswaldtwistle progressed to the last four after beating Benjamin Hargreaves 1-0 – and it was the same scoreline as Huncoat ‘A’ beat West End ‘A’ and St John St Augustine beat Helmshore 1-0.

In the other quarter final tie, Peel Park ‘A’ beating St John St Augustine 2-0.

While there was only five goals scored in the quarter finals, six were netted in two thrilling semi finals.

In the first semi final, Huncoat ‘A’ narrowly edged out St Mary’s Oswaldtwistle, winning 2-1 while Peel Park ‘A’ impressed in a 3-0 win over St John St Augustine.

“All Four teams played so well to get to this stage and deserved huge amounts of credit for reaching the semi finals,” said Gareth Martindale, assistant school games organiser.

The final saw between Huncoat ‘A’ and Peel Park A was another very close game with chances created for both teams but it was Huncoat who took one of their chances to win the game 1-0 and crowned Hyndburn champions.

St John St Augustine narrowly beat St Marys Oswaldtwistle on penalties to take 3rd place.

“A really big well done to everyone involved,” added Martindale. “The standard was very high and everyone should be proud of themselves.

“Congratulations to Huncoat who will now represent Hyndburn in the Danone Cup as well as the Stanley Trust Cup final on Accrington Stanley home pitch.