The football season may be over for most schools but boys from Alma Primary in Whetstone will be continuing to practise hard over the next few weeks.

They are gearing up to compete in the finals of the Under-11 Small Schools Cup, which is part of the national Pokemon competition.

There are two other cups up for grabs in the contest, which attracted over 5,000 teams involving 50,000 children overall.

After being asked to represent Barnet, Alma won the borough qualifier and triumphed again, representing Middlesex in the South-East regional finals last term.

Now they will be one of eight teams going for the national trophy at Leicester City’s stadium in June.

“We have come from nowhere to now being the best school in the whole of the South East of England,” said one of the Alma team.

Coach Alex Norman said, “It’s been a pleasure to have helped the boys progress and create memories which they will never forget. I know that we have surprised people along the way, certainly initially, but not me. Alma are lucky to have such an incredible group of boys.”