IT has been a successful week for Wirral Schoolboys Under 14s football team after winning both the Merseyside and Cheshire Cups, writes Andrew McKechnie.

The team travelled to Bootle FC on Monday night to play Sefton in the Merseyside Snowden Cup Final watched by a large crowd from both sides.

At half-time Wirral were down by a goal from Sefton's talismanic Joe Gelhardt, but they quickly turned it around at the beginning of the second half getting two goals in quick succession from Thomas Taaffe to take control of the game with a third goal completing the score line.

With little time to recover, the boys were on the road the following evening to Middlewich Town FC to play Knowsley in the Cheshire Inter-Association Cup Final.

Wirral Globe:

Celebrations for Wirral Schoolboys Under 14s football team after winning both the Merseyside and Cheshire Cups

Facing strong opponents, Wirral worked hard but again found themselves one goal down at half time.

Wirral continued with their strong work rate in the second half, creating several goal scoring chances and were eventually rewarded with a well worked goal by Thomas Taaffe coming from a Liam Kelly cross.

After a period of extra-time, the score remained 1:1 and both teams faced penalties.

With cool heads, Wirral put all of their shots firmly in the back of the net and after a great save by keeper Sean Greathead, the Royal Blues won the match and picked up the cup to the delight of the travelling supporters.

The team - featuring students from Neston High, St.Anselms College, St.Mary's College, St.John Plessington, Calday Grange Grammar, Birkenhead Park, Mosslands and South Wirral High - has enjoyed a great season, managed and coached by Will Rowlands, Lee Robinson, Joe Saunders and Tim Riggs.

On Friday, the team has a chance to go one further as they compete in the Greater Manchester League playoffs to decide the league winners and finish off a very busy but rewarding season.