Macmillan Academy suffered the heartache of missing out on the national 5-a-side finals when they finished runners up in the North East Regional finals in North Shields.

Macmillan Academy suffered the heartache of missing out on the national 5-a-side finals when they finished runners up in the North East Regional finals at the Powerleague Soccerdome in North Shields on Wednesday 6th February.

They began the tournament in great style with three consecutive victories. Firstly, the beat Durham's Framwellgate Moor before defeating both Valley Gardens (Northumberland) and St John Fisher, who were the North Yorkshire representatives.

.Before commencing their penultimate game the team were sitting at the top of the table and next up were the only other unbeaten team, William Howard from Cumbria. However, due to the fact that they had drawn their first game it meant the Cumbrians were in second place prior to starting the game.

The game was, as expected, very competitive. Macmillan thought they had snatched the lead only for the referee to rule it out insisting that the strike was from inside the box. William Howard grew stronger as the game wore on and managed to eventually win the game 2-0.

A much deflated Macmillan side then played out a 0-0 draw in their last game against South Yorkshire's King Edward VII whilst William Howard won once more to be crowned champions.

Despite the obvious disappointment the team can be hugely proud of their achievements in this competition and can now hopefully look forward to completing a successful league and cup campaign.