Wembley bound

FINAL PREPARATIONS Corey Campbell, Ryan Frost, Kyle Carnell, Tommy Ferris, Leo Dockery, Lewis Eaton, Ben Yates, Mekhi Armstrong. FRONT: Dean Holden, Joe Lawton (captain) and Darren Kelly.

South Failsworth are set for a dream weekend as they prepare to do battle in the Football League Kids’ Cup final at the home of English football.

Representing Athletic, they will take on the Oaks School, representing Crawley Town, in the League One Kids’ Cup showpiece prior to the main event of the day — the promotion play-off final between Simon Grayson’s Preston North End and Mark Cooper’s Swindon Town.

South Failsworth head teacher Mike Jones, who has assisted coach Lee Lawton during the run-up to the Wembley date, said: “Everyone is very excited now, but they’re also confident of doing well after putting in some great performances during a number of preparation games against local club teams.

“Of course, we’ve reached the Wembley Kids’ Cup final twice before (in 2010 and 2012) — but lost them both.

“This time we’re determined to make it third time lucky.

“The boys certainly won’t be short of support.

“Mums, dads, grandparents, friends . . . there are lots of people heading down to London to cheer the boys on.

“This could turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play at such an iconic venue for these lads, so everyone involved is determined to make the very most of it.”

The South Failsworth party head south on Saturday and will stay at the plush Wembley Inn Hotel overnight.

There is a nearby sports complex where they can take in a training session on Saturday, while on Sunday morning the team will enjoy a Wembley Stadium tour.

The eight-a-side match against the Oaks school takes place on the pitch at approximately 4.30pm, with the Preston-Swindon clash set to kick-off at 5.30pm.

South Failsworth booked their Wembley date thanks to their triumph in the Northern Kids’ Cup tournament final in March, 3-0 against hosts Crewe Alexandra.

The school lost 1-0 to Brentford’s Collis Primary School at the same stage in 2012 and 1-0 to Wycombe’s Gateway School in 2010.