THERE is a new name on the Jim Hayhurst Trophy after St Alban's became the Blackburn Primary School five-a-side champions for the first time.

The Larkhill school beat Salesbury 1-0 in a very close final at Darwen Leisure Centre thanks to a goal from striker Matthew Duerden.

Dureden went on to top the Saints scoring charts with four goals -- including an important semi final winner.

A total of eight teams had won through to the grand final after taking part in a series of qualifying rounds. And the coming together of the town's top teams led to some excellent football -- with the majority of ties settle by the one goal.

Lammack, St Anthony's, Wensley Fold, St Paul's and last year's winners Feniscowles all made it in to the last eight.

Teams were split in to two groups of four with the top two in each qualifying for the semi finals.

St Alban's topped their group thanks to 1-0 wins against Lammack and St Anthony's. But there was no seperating the eventually winners and runners-up and the Saints and Salesbury battled out a 1-1 stalemate.

In group two, St Gabriels finished top and were joined in the semi finals by Wensley Fold.

St Paul's were third in the group with Feniscowles in fourth place. In the first semi final, Duerden settled the tie with the only goal of the game as St Albans beat Wensley Fold 1-0.

Salesbury booked their place in the final in another close game, beating St Gabriel's 2-1.

All the matches were played in two halves of five minutes so one goal was probably going to be good enough.

And so it proved in the final where deadly Duerden was on target again to sink Salesbury.

The winning St Alban's team included Kieron Holden, Conor Philbin, Matthew Duerden, Joshua Finn, Ben Forster and Adam Hughes.

Saints coach Peter Keegan said: "It was a tremendous team effort from the lads. To win the trophy for the first time if fantastic. The standard of football was very high. It was very competitive because all the best teams were in it and we are delighted to have won."