SHEFFIELD Steelers finished the season in style at the weekend by winning the Junior Flags title.

The Abbeydale Sports Club side defeated Ashton-under-Lyne 12-9 in this year's showcase final at the Flags Festival Weekend in Rochdale.

And victory capped off a memorable season for the South Yorkshire side who have also won promotion to the Men's North of England League Premier Division next season.

Steelers finished second in Division Two this term behind champs Boardman and Eccles.

And with the Junior Flags title won, it came as little surprise that skipper Sam Glover was delighted with his on-song side.

"It's been a brilliant season," praised Glover. "It was a really hard game, Ashton made it difficult for us, but we showed a lot of character to win.

"Winning the Junior Flags is a brilliant way to finish the season. The final was a bit closer than anticipated, but we pulled through in the end."

Ben Lyon and Chris Wainer both top-scored with four goals each, while Dave Alcock and Peter Sylvester bagged braces.

But 3-2 down after the first quarter and 5-4 down at half-time Steelers had plenty to do.

However, the favourites won the third quarter 4-1 and the final quarter 4-3 to win welcome honours.

"Hopefully we can keep the same team for next season," added Glover. "We've got to look carefully at the games we can win next season because there's a big jump in standard, we don't want to get relegated and come straight back down again."

David Schofield, Simon Stocks, Ean Robinson and Ross Allen both scored doubles, while Kevin Newall was also on target.

However, despite having held a slender one goal advantage going into the second half, last season's Division 3 champions could not upset the form book.

An Ashton spokesperson said: "It was a superb game. We're disappointed to have lost, but we didn't disgrace ourselves.

"We could have been beaten heavily, but gave Sheffield a good run for their money. It's been a good season, we've had some good results since we've been promoted."