A girls' footy team in Leek has gone from losing 20-0 each week to winning promotion to the top division - after a fed-up dad started coaching.

Leek Town Devils under 15s were getting routinely thrashed every time they turned out until Stuart Henley stepped in two years ago.

The car valeter, 41, took the job when the previous manager quit because no one else would - and has transformed the team's fortunes.

With the help of assistant Ivan Austin, 50, also a parent, they renamed the team the Devils and started training hard in February 2020.

The team, who used to be called Golden Hill, now win regularly - and secured promotion for next year after finishing second in their division.

Stuart, from Stoke-on-Trent, credits off-field bonding sessions like quizzes and a focus in training on the basics with the turnaround.

A handful of players had never kicked a football before joining the team, so training them took hours of hard work and patience.

He said: "To be fair the first training session was like watching a men's team just coming out of the pub.

"But after a good few weeks we got down to training and they really started to take it in what I wanted.

"My ethos has really been on doing the basic stuff well and letting the girls decide what they feel they need to work on rather than dictate the sessions myself."

Stuart's first season was blighted by Covid, which forced him and Ivan to get creative with training.

They organised quizzes and team building activities with the girls to help them bond on and off the field.

Stuart then spent the sessions they could hold focusing on the basics of football like passing, shooting and movement to try and bring the girls up to a good standard.

He said: "The 2020/2021 season was really stop and start because of the pandemic but this gave us more time to train together as a team.

"Our first game together we were at home, and when we scored a goal it was like winning the World Cup.

"Watching their faces light up was great to see, and although we lost the game, we didn't care because the goal was a sign of progress.

"Each week we'd go back to training and work on the bits that went wrong the previous Saturday which really helped the girls learn."

Stuart watched the girls develop over the course of last year, and in September they played their first match of the new season.

They won the game, and since then went on an unbeaten run of eight games, drawing just one fixture.

The team's star player Chelsea, 15, has also impressed individually, becoming the top scorer in the league with a whopping 30 goals.

Their newfound form led them to a top of the table clash, where they were sadly beaten 3-2 by rivals Wyrley Pumas.

Although this means they have been denied the league title, the team have still exceeded expectation by winning promotion to the county's top division.

Stuart, whose daughter Rebecca, 14, plays for the team, added: "We are about giving girls the opportunity to play football no matter what.

"We gave it everything we had on the weekend but sometimes its just not your day.

"No one would have ever thought this time two years ago that we'd be in this position yet hear we are.

"All the effort that the girls, us coaches and parents have put in to get this point has been immense.

"If I didn't have the support off Ivan helping me every week this would have been an impossible task so I'm incredibly grateful to have him on side.

"All we want is to bring more girls into the game and show that it's not all about having the best player's; it's about hard work and giving everyone the chance to play.

"Were going into next season full of confidence and ready to compete against tougher opponents, but for now were still very much enjoying our victory.

"Myself and Ivan are so so proud of every one of the players and couldn't ask any more of them - they really are a terrific group of girls."

Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter below to get the top 10 Leek stories of the week delivered straight to your inbox every Friday! No click-bait. No intrusive ads. Just news about Leek.