THESE are exciting times for Nelson and Colne College.

Not only has its sixth form football team successfully defen-ded its British Colleges Sports League title, it is now able to offer three top class sports academies for football, netball and basketball.

The football team showed their academy credentials when they kicked off the season with a fine 5-2 win against Blackpool and Fylde College.

The poor weather meant that Nelson had to play catch-up but a series of wins, most notably a 2-1 home victory over Accri-ngton and Rossendale College, where they came from 1-0 down to win, put them on course to retain the title.

And they could have wrapped it up before the Easter break but slipped to a surprise 4-2 home defeat to Lancaster and More-cambe.

But Nelson showed the mark of true champions when they clinched back-to-back titles thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win against Blackpool Sixth Form.

The winning squad included Sam Ball, Adam Greenwood, Chris Heald, Andrew Blackburn, Ryan Price, John Bleasdale, Kamen Collinson, Marcus Duxbury, Lloyd Whiteoak, Dominic Craig, Ross Harrison, Jake Martin, Rob Lawless, Matt Tindall, Matt Blackwell, Connor O’Neil, Boston Taylor, Jamie Harvey and Luke Brookes.

Players’ Player of the Season was keeper Sam Bell, who also filled in as an emergency forward while Manager’s Player of the Year went to Matt Tindall.

Team Coach Dan Clark said: “Matt is a wonderful player who has lead by example. His knowledge of tactics and selection has been a constant aid to the manager and he is a player who will be sorely missed next season.”

The academies will be launched in the new academic year. The academies will allow students to access professional coaching alongside their academic studies and assistance towards the cost of competing.

Two UEFA ‘A’ coaches will be running the football Academy while netball trials start on June 30.

Any students wishing to try out for a place on one of the acade-mies should contact Admissions on 01282 440 272 or email admissions@nelson.ac.uk