A COVETED trophy is on its way to Bolton Wanderers – thanks to the exploits of its over 60s walking football team.

The seniors side had been planning to travel to Majorca for a tournament for the past two years.

In 2019 this was made impossible to due a transport strike and in 2020 Covid restrictions meant it could not go ahead. But in 2021 it was third time lucky.

And not only did they make it there, they went all the way and won the cup itself.

They faced off representatives from some of Europe’s biggest names, including Dutch teams Feyenoord and Den Haag at first.

Then the squad overcame Belgian unit Genk and from then on it was only English teams who stood in their way.

In the semi-finals they faced Nottingham Forest, and they were neck and neck for most of the contest.

The nerve-tingling affair went all the way to penalties but the men from Bolton came through by triumphing 3-2 in the shootout.

In the final they came up against Boldmere St Michael’s, and managed to hold on for a 2-1 victory against the Midlands team.

Manager Nathan Saint was full of praise for the achievement.

He said: “The final was a very tight game, we were having to to give everything at the end to see it out.

“Hard work and effort was what did it,. Some of our team are over 70 and we were playing in heat of 25 degrees.

“This group has been together for about four years.

“We were due to come here two years ago and again last year.

“The atmosphere among the group has been absolutely brilliant, it has been amazing to see. It has been a real team feeling. Some of these guys have been Wanderers fans for 50 years”

And he said walking football, where you cannot run with or without the ball, was growing in popularity.

He said: “It is one of the fastest growing forms of football, certainly across Europe. Its popularity is growing year on year.”