Following another dismal season for Men's football on Merseyside, the U15 girls squad at St. Julie's Catholic High School in Woolton have followed in the illustrious footsteps of the FA Cup Winning Everton Ladies' Team to bring a national trophy back to Liverpool!

The team of Year 9 and 10 pupils from South Liverpool have crowned their most successful season to date by defeating Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy from Kent in a 3-1 victory contested at Exeter City's stadium to clinch the English Schools National U15 Tournament Trophy. The team were supported by a huge band of travelling fans, complete with banners, who made the long journey to Devon to cheer the team to victory.

The team played in Everton FC kit following exciting new developments that St. Julie's are making with the club to further boost their success in nurturing talent on the field.

Highlights on the journey to the final included away matches in Ripon FC, Lincoln and results including scorelines of 11-0 and 12-1.

Our team coach, Miss Dawber, is delighted with the result. She said "This result is the highlight of an amazing season for all the footballers at St Julie's. We have had fantastic success in recent times achieving National standard for 3 consecutive years. We have recently seen success as Merseyside Champions in the age groups of U13 and U14.

The girls have worked hard to reach this standard through regular training and dedication to the game. It has been a pleasure working with all of them, and I have no doubt that they will go on to achieve great things. We have been lucky enough to establish a link with Everton FC who sponsored us for the game, and we know that this will help our players to become the stars of the future.

The journey to the final has been tough, but the side has an incredible team spirit and have kept each other highly motivated and fiercely competitive."

All three goals came from a superb hat trick for star striker Shannon Beckwith, who capitalised on the strong team performance.

You'll see from the photo that the team played in Everton kit, which is a sign of the close links that the school are developing with the club.

Denise Barrett-Baxendale, the Chief Executive of the Everton Foundation, was quick to praise the team as well, saying "This is a fantastic sporting achievement and one that the students, parents, carers and staff must be extremely proud of. It has been a delight working with the staff and students at St. Julie's and we look forward to continuing our partnership work in the new season."

Mr Alderman is confident that this is just the start of great things for Football at St. Julie's, saying: "We always expect the very best of all of our pupils, but victory in this tournament is a truly remarkable achievement for everybody involved. This has raised our expectations even higher than before and is a great motivation for our younger pupils to aspire to national success."