THEY may not have progressed past the first round but the teams representing Blackburn Rovers and Burnley did their schools proud.

St Edwards Primary School from Darwen and St John's from Burnley won their area finals to progress to the regional finals of the event held at Rovers impressive Academy at Brockhall.

And they both came within one victory of reaching the semi finals of the regional finals.

St Edwards played four games in their group, winning two and losing two. In the end it was a 1-0 defeat against eventual beaten finalists Tranmere that cost them their place in the last four.

St Edwards kicked off with a 2-0 defeat against Bury but bounced back, thanks largely to a commanding performance by Dean Beare, with a 1-0 win against Liverpool with Matthew O'Neil scoring the all important goal.

Goals from the Lynch twins Christopher and Anthony gave them a 2-1 win against Blackpool after being a goal down.

But then came the Tranmere defeat which eliminated them from the competition.

St Edwards got a boost when the met Blackburn Rovers Republic of Ireland international Damien Duff before the competition kicked off.

St John's performance was equally as impressive and started with a fine 2-0 win against Preston with Thomas Cole and Darren Swift scoring the goals.

A double strike from Richard Geogheagan gave them a 2-1 win against Wigan to set up a final match with Everton which would determine who would got through to the semi finals.

But despite another gutsy display, Everton proved to be just too strong and the eventual winners won 3-1 with Cole grabbing his second goal of the event for St John's.

RAILTRACK PLAY SAFE REGIONAL SIX-A-SIDE FINAL

at Blackburn Rovers Academy, Brockhall

BLACKBURN ROVERS (ST EDWARDS): Christopher Lynch, Anthony Lynch, Christopher McEwan, Dean Beare, Joshua Holden, Joshua Rewaj, Daniel Wright and Matthew O'Neil

BURNLEY FC (ST JOHNS): Liam Broxup, Jonathan McCann, Nathan Birch, Hannah Taylor, Richard Geogheagan, Thomas Cole, John Hynes and Darren Swift.