WORLD Cup magic obviously rubbed off on the wee wizards of Wigginton Grasshoppers FC.

The club's youngsters were afforded the privilege of meeting Sir Geoff Hurst, whose hat-trick underpinned England's capture of the World Cup in 1966.

Ex-West Ham hit-man Hurst, still the only man to have registered a hat-trick in a World Cup final, was principal guest at a football festival for charter standard clubs at the Leeds HQ of the West Riding County FA.

The Grasshoppers' U11s and U8s were teams from one of only two clubs from York to compete in the coaching sessions as representatives of the North Riding County FA.

That route '66 sparkle obviously proved an inspiration. Less than 24 hours later the U11s' wonders of Wiggy won an annual gala at Scarborough's Raincliffe School beating keen rivals Hamilton Panthers in an all-York final.

Wigginton initially topped their group before ousting Brooklyn in a quarter-final penalty shoot-out and then seeing off neighbours Strensall in the semi-finals.

Next up were the Panthers, the recently-crowned Mitchell League champions. But after the end of the 14 minutes regulation time both sides were locked in a stalemate which then stretched to four minutes of golden-goal extra-time.

All five nominated spot-takers from both teams hit the target in the penalty shoot-out to prompt sudden-death drama. A stirring save from Wiggy goalkeeper James Wareham was followed by a thunder-footed penalty from Tristan Elgina to clinch the Grasshoppers' triumph to add to their success in the seven-a-side Thorpe tournament last month.

Updated: 10:33 Thursday, August 04, 2005