NORTHERN champions Mini Panthers Girls hockey team, of Hoylake, just missed out on becoming National Champions.

The Panthers, who are also Cheshire champions, became Champions of the North in Southport, where they triumphed against their counterparts from Lancashire, Yorkshire and the North East.

The Panthers - they comprise seven girls from Kingsmead School, Hoylake - went through to the National Final at Cannock, where they played brilliant hockey, winning two out of three matches. They needed just one more victory to clinch the National Championship, but despair was to follow when they lost 2-1.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.