ACCRINGTON and Rossendale College’s girls football academy have been crowned national champions for the second successive year.

But it was agony for the boys team who just missed out - although they still became the third best team in the country.

For the second year in a row, the AccRoss teams earned the right to represent the North West region in the AoC National Championships.

Last season the college became the first in the North West to win both the girls and boy’s competition in the same year and this year became the first college to win both competitions two years in a row.

So they headed to Nottingham University in confident mood.

The seven-a-side competition was held over three days where they boys played 10 games and girls played nine - each match lasting 20 minutes.

On the first day, AccRoss Boys beat Barton 6th Form 1-0 with a goal from Nathaniel Anderson then drew 2-2 with East Norfolk College, Cameron Lancaster and Owen Dawson scoring.

The girls matched the boys on the first day, beating Loughborough College 4-1, Sophie Charlton and Brenna McPartlan scoring both goals. They then drew 0-0 with Itchen College to end the day on four points.

Day two saw the college teams play 11 games between them,

The boys remained undefeated, winning three and drawing three thanks to goals from Sean Ince (2), Nathaniel Anderson (3) and Cameron Lancaster (3).

The girls also remained undefeated winning five all five games. Sophie Charlton led the goal charge, scoring four times with Brenna McPartlan (2) and Olivia Wilkes also netting.

At the end of day two, both teams were top of their respective league tables and remained undefeated.

Day three started with both teams having the national championship in their hands.

The boys had to match the results of Kingston College to be crowned national champions for the first team in the history of the colleges football academy programme.

The girls had the national championships in their grasp, knowing that the needed one draw from their last two games to make it back to back titles.

AccRoss Boys started poorly, losing 2-1 to Gateway College, despite leading early on from a Ben Rhodes goal.

Kingston College failed to capitalise and drew their penultimate game meaning the boys needed to beat Sheffield College - and they did that as goals from Lancaster & Anderson sealed a 2-1 victory.

But Kingston did not crack under pressure and won their final game 3-0 meaning the boys dropped down to third place, taking the bronze medal.

The girls picked up the draw they needed in the first game, coming from behind to draw 1-1 with the South West team. Brenna McPartlan scored the goal and Katie Dudgeon saved a late penalty to secure the National Championship for the second year in a row.

With the title in the bag, the AccRoss Girls lost their final game 1-0 to the Welsh representative team but at that stage, the result was irrelevant.

Head of Men’s football, Michael Worthington said: “Both the boys and girls have been a credit to the college and the region this weekend.

They have shown professionalism and maturity beyond their years. We have played 19 games this weekend and have only suffered defeat in two, both on the final day.

“From the boys point of view they are disappointed that they were in a position to win the tournament only to fall at the final hurdle, that being said if you had offered them a top three finish on day one, we all would have taken it.

“It shows how far they have come as a team this season that finish third best in the country is a disappointment.

“The effort from them all has added to the success of finishing third in the league, qualifying for the playoffs and reaching the quarter final of the English Schools FA Cup.

“I am very proud of all them for their efforts.”

Head of Girls football, Gemma Donnelly, was delighted to see her side retain the title.

“There was always going to be pressure on the girls coming into the competition as the current national champions,” said Donnelly

“They all wanted to win the competition but we took each game as it came and put together a fantastic run. Becoming national champions for the second year a row is an incredible achievement, one that they will all look back on in years to come.”

“Every girls has represented the college and the region with class and some of the football we have played has been fantastic.’