HALTON Netball Club have put the icing on the cake with the sweetest moment in their 27-year history.
They are inaugural winners of a national competition which started with 120 teams.
The team triumphed in the Netball UK Challenge Cup's Shield - the first final of a thrilling triple-header bill at Bath University's Training Village.
En route to glory they had come through preliminary matches and cup rounds to determine selection into the Cup, Plate and Shield competitions and then a knockout stage to reach finals day.
The Runcorn-based team played home matches in the tournament in Widnes - at Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Sports College and Kingsway Leisure Centre - and had to travel as far as London.
Their ultimate reward came with a 37-18 defeat of Wiltshire outfit Pinehurst which was something of a family affair for the Gumbs with six relatives sharing in the win.
Head player-coach Andrea Gumbs, playing at centre, was joined in the starting line-up by her sisters Cheryl Gumbs, Maxine Gumbs (an assistant player-coach) and Denise Taylor.
Cheryl's daughter and the other assistant player-coach Danielle Williams plus Andrea's daughter Kalicia Uchegbu came on as substitutes.
The team also included Carla Lawrenson plus the Davison sisters - Kate and Laura.
Coming on as subs to prove the club's strength in depth were Jenny Antrobus, Becky Ireland and Jess Ayuya.
Ayuya from Grange School, Run-corn, earlier this year helped Cheshire U16s win the English Counties title.
She has been dubbed as a potential international and selected for England trials in 2007 from the England Netball Long-Term Athlete Development programme.
Managed by Pam Collins, Halton were one of only two North West teams involved in the national finals day.
The team put their success down to a strong squad with a blend of youth and experience plus a desire to win.
Andrea Gumbs admitted that to have a national trophy in the bag was fantastic.
She said: 'The score didn't really reflect the match as it was tough opposition on a massive, international-sized court.
'The game could have gone either way but we had youth and experience to overcome any competition by the opposition.'
Halton Netball are well used to setting trends - in 2003 they were voted team-of-the-year at the first Halton Sports Awards.
Having begun life as Scanglas Net-ball Club, they have won a host of titles at local and regional levels while being at the hub of netball development in the borough.
