This weekend saw not only the North West Academy boys A team win the Inter Regional Championships 2010 but also the North West B team came third.

Six Lancaster players, James Alker, Ben Walker, Scott Sharpe, Luke Saul, Noel Howson and Sam Routledge were part of the winning team including head coach Zak Sly and two Lancaster players, Josh Barrett and Dean Akister along with assistant coach Lawrance Daykin and team manager Lesley Barrett were part of the B team.

The weekend run smoothly and saw the A team take  West Midlands, Ireland and North East with the B team taking on East Midlands, South West, Scotland  and London.

The A team then took on their B team in the semi finals. With the A team putting 10 goals away by half time, coach Zak Sly got the lads to play a “run down the clock” tactic in the second.. The North West B team were just a bit weak to hold back the A team but denied the A team several goals with some outstanding defence.  The final score finished North West A 13 North West B 0.

North West A then took on South West in the final which was a great game to watch with the score being level up until the last 17 seconds of the game were Zak called a time out and with four seconds on the clock North West put the ball away in the back of the net to see them to victory.

North West can now boast that they are the best Region in the country after all three age groups, juniors, youth and academy both boys and girls winning their championships! This is down to the hard work of the players, staff and parents of the North West.

A big thank you must go to the North West committee especially Joanne Mountfield, who has not only organised the North West teams but also the whole Inter Region championships. Another thank you must go to Mike Heskith who has been the tournament director for these championships.

North West A players: Jack Deslanders (GK), Drew Winstanley, James Alker, Noel Howson, Ben Walker, Simon Morton – Grant, Sam Routledge, Ben Sandford, Daniel Peek, Tom Hadley, Scott Shapre, Luke Sail and James Salt

North West A staff: Zak Sly (Coach), Tim Dunsbee (Assistant Coach) and Colin Walsh (Team Manager)

North West B players: Stephan Williams (GK), Kieran Harrison (GK), Joe Selby, Andrew Robinson, Thomas Grieve, Adam Toone, Cameron Adamson, Niall Crilly, Dean Akister, Remmy Gorton, Lewis Daly, Aaron Winstanley and Josh Barrett

North West B staff: Andy McGinty (Coach), Lawrance Daykin (Assistant Coach) and Lesley Barrett (Team Manager)