All star boys five and six-a-side competition at Wilson's Playing Fields, Clayton

ST JOSEPH'S were the stars of the show at the inaugural All Star Boys football competition after winning three age groups.

The Accrington team were simply unstoppable during the two day event when they lifted the under nines, under 11s and under 12s trophies.

In the under nines final, St Joseph's beat Akzo Nobel 'A' to win their first trophy of the day which was quickly followed by success in the under 11s competition.

However this was a much tighter affair, this time against Akzo Nobel 'A'.

The match remained goalless after normal time but St Joseph's players held their nerve to win 3-2 on penalties.

All the odd number age group competitions were played on the Saturday with all the even number age groups played the following day.

So other winners on the Saturday were Knuzden Youth 'A' who beat Blackburn Boys 1-0 in the under 13s final. In the under 14s final, Blackburn Eagles defeated Gregson Land 'B' 2-0.

Akzo Nobel had more success on the Sunday in the first final of the day when Nobel's 'B' team beat Oswaldtwistle Juniors 'A' 2-1 to win the under 10s competition.

However St Joseph's were back to their winning ways when their 'A' team won a tight match against Blackburn Boys 'A' 1-0 to win the under 12s age group.

Blackburn Boys did managed to win a competition though and their under 14s representatives turned on the style to beat Charnock Richard 3-0 in the final.

The biggest cheer of the day was saved for host side All Star Boys who beat Great Harwood Rovers 'A' 2-0 to win the under 16s title.

However the game was held after Rovers player Daniel McVie broke his leg when he fell awkwardly after going up for a challenge.

But St John Ambulance were on hand to administer first aid.

The competition was held at Wilson's playing fields in Clayton-le-Moors and attracted 83 teams from across East Lancashire.

And Burnley striker Andy Payton popped along on the Sunday to sign autographs and cheer the youngsters along.

Organisers are now planning to make it an annual event following the success of this first ever competition. All the under nines, under 10s and under 11s were six-a-side matches while the under 12s, 13s, 14s, 15s and 16s were five-a-side games.

Club secretary Stephanie Gough said: "A lot of hard work went in to organising the event but it ran very smoothly and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

"It is a shame our club did not win any more matches but two of our other sides did very well." Mrs Gough would like to thank relatives for supporting the event, competition referees, Hyndburn Borough Council, Great Harwood Foods, Akzo Nobel and Darwen FC for providing the nets and St John Ambulance.