Breightmet United Blacks under-sevens are the Bolton and Bury District Football League Players Cup winners for 2023/24.

The final at Manchester City’s Etihad Campus saw the Breightmet youngsters face Wigan Town Piranhas with nerves aplenty ahead of the big day.

And it was also a huge day for the club’s under-eights who had also made it to the final and were playing at exactly the same time on the pitch next door.

Both sets of fans were fully behind their players with the U7s going with a 1-1-2 shape that saw Jacob between the sticks and skipper Grayson providing the protection in front of him.

Ezra was the conduit between them and the top-two of Toby and Mikey were good to go.

The game-changers in reserve were Bobby, Oli and Henry and as the referee called the teams forward, so the crowd settled in for what proved to be an excellent 40 minutes of football...

Breightmet started brightly it was not long before they took the lead. A great tackle from Grayson saw him slide the ball into the path of Toby and he did the rest - tapping it one side of his marker to get the space and looking up to smash it home from 15 yards.

The Black and Whites continued to control matters with Ezra bossing the middle areas and Mikey racing down the wing at pace.

Bobby, Oli and Henry had been brought into the action and were quickly into the game - and when the clock ticked into it’s 13th minute, Breightmet doubled their lead. Another good move saw the ball fed into the middle and there was Toby again to sweep the ball into the roof of the net.

But before the break Wigan halved their deficit to make it game on again ahead of the second half.

As soon as the second half restarted, Breightmet were back at it and soon regained their two-goal advantage. Another good tackle from Grayson saw him feed the ball out to Mikey who in turn slipped it inside and at exactly the right moment, he spotted Bobby. Taking it in his stride, he drew their defender out and played Toby in and he did the rest, smashing the ball into the roof of the net from 12 yards to complete his hat-trick.

And Breightmet saw the game out to clinch the cup.

The U8s could not manage to replicate the win but it remained a monumental day in the club’s history to win the cup.

Coach Gaz told the club’s website: “’What can I say? Happy doesn’t even come close!

“Not only in the fact that we’re taking this trophy back to Breightmet - but to see the smiles on the faces of our players and supporters at the end was what it’s all about.

“To represent the badge as proudly as we have today - not only us but our valiant U8s as well - is exactly why we all put the amount of effort in that we do. To bring this squad of players together in such a short space of time and be ending the season as cup winners just beggars belief.”