THREE Barrow Celtic girls have added a dash of tangerine to their lives after being snapped up by Blackpool.

Paige McDermott, 16, Alicia Trewin, 10 and Ellie Husband, nine, are all part of the Seasiders’ girls youth programme.

The trio impressed scouts and coaches from the Bloomfield Road club as trials in Bispham and are now looking to kick on.

Left-back Ellie and Alicia are part of the under-11s set-up and central midfielder Paige – Ellie’s older sister – is in the under-16s squad.

Alicia’s mother Sam said of her daughter and Ellie’s success: “The club decide who they want to come to trials and they did two each. In the second trial, they said ‘they’re brilliant, we want them’, but they had to go for a third trial where they were signed.

“They go every week for training and they have matches on lots of weekends. If they don’t have a match, they still travel down to training.

“The coaching is really good. They’re coached like the boys teams.

“I know Blackpool are suffering a little with the men’s team, but the girls do so well all through the age groups and they have played Liverpool.

“It has been amazing.”

She added: “Alicia has been playing football for less than two years. For her to be signed by Blackpool is amazing. I’m not a football person, so she has never watched football at home, but one day she decided she wanted to have a go, she tried it and she was really good at it.

“I nearly cried – we were ecstatic when we found out she had been picked. They got letters saying they had been picked and it was a big thing when they went down to sign and they got all their kits and everything.”

Ellie and Paige’s mother Tammy McDermott was equally thrilled at the success of her daughters on the field – who are following in family footsteps, with granddad Ged McDermott having played for Preston North End. She said: “We’re very proud. The girls were over the moon, they both love football.

“Ellie has only been playing for a couple of years and Paige has been playing since she was eight. Ellie started because Paige was playing and her dad Colin Husband plays for Barrow Celtic as well.

“Paige started at James’s School, she liked it and she signed up for Barrow Celtic.

“They’ve already played games and they’re down there three times a week.”

Alicia and brother Ollie are the only brother and sister to have played for the same team at Barrow Celtic when they turned out together last season, now she is looking to make strides with Blackpool as well as her local youth team.

Both she and Ellie have received money from the Chris Massey Memorial Fund, set up in honour of the former Barrow RL player, to help cover equipment and travel expenses.

Sam said: “It was really nice of Joanne, Chris’s sister, to do that fo us. It has helped get them started.”