THE children of Crooklands Casuals were celebrating after lifting the inaugural Barrow and District Junior Football League Under-eights Autumn Trophy.

The Oranges of Dalton came out on top in the 12-team tournament after the weather finally relented to allow the decisive matches to be played.

After several postponements during the winter storms, teams encountered relatively minor wind and rain on Furness College’s 3G pitch.

The sides were split into two after the initial group stage, with the top six contesting the Autumn Cup and the remaining teams the Autumn Shield.

Crooklands took the honours in the former, with Dalton Juniors triumphing in the latter after some hotly-contested matches.

Cassies started their day with a 1-0 victory over Holker Old Boys, who had topped their group despite suffering the same result during the preliminary stages.

The champions followed up with a 2-0 triumph against Furness Rovers Royals and a 3-1 success against Furness Rovers Whites to leave them in pole position.

A 2-0 win against Furness Cavaliers meant they had won the cup with a game to spare, meaning their 2-0 defeat to Hawcoat Park in the last game did not matter.

Holker finished second in the cup, with their loss to Cassies followed by three wins and a draw, while Hawcoat climbed to third courtesy of victory over Crooklands in the final round of fixtures.

In the Shield, Dalton went through their five matches undefeated, beating Barrow Wanderers Tangerines, Barrow Celtic and Millom Juniors Blacks and drawing with Millom Juniors Reds and Barrow Wanderers Hoops, who were likewise unbeaten in second, though with three draws and two wins.

Spring Trophy competitions are planned for under-eights, under-nines and under-10s sides later in the season, hoping to build on the success of the autumn tournaments, which have filled otherwise blank weekends in the calendar.