A STRUGGLING football team is celebrating an amazing turn-around in its fortunes since mum-of-six Barbara Draper took over as manager.

Whitehawk under-16s finished almost bottom of the county league last season and their prospects looked bleak when they couldn't find a new manager.

But Barbara, 43, stepped in to save the day - despite admitting she knew next to nothing about football.

Now, in scenes echoing Cherie Lunghi's TV series The Manageress, the team has just completed a treble of the county championship, Mid Sussex Youth Cup and Brighton and Hove Schools cup.

Barbara said: "My son Ross plays for the team so I was always at matches cheering him on. One day the manager announced he was leaving due to illness and the team were forced to look for someone else."

After more than a week no one came forward. Barbara said: "Even though I knew very little about football there was no way I could stand back and watch the team fall apart.

"I spoke to the boys and told them I was thinking of putting my name down for manager. They all seemed really keen and supportive so I went ahead and did it, and since then I've never looked back."

Barbara, of Coolham Drive, Brighton, said: "Sometimes you did hear other teams talking on the sidelines saying, 'Oh look, they've got a woman as manager - they're not going to go far'. But I don't think it matters who is in charge as long as the boys have confidence in you.

"In some ways I think it's helped. The boys have given me a lot of respect and decided they were going to try harder this year."

Barbara has had plenty of support from children, Ross, 15, Gary, 18, Nick, 20, Mark 22, Aimee, 14, and Vicky, 23.

She said: "Most of them are quite knowledgeable about football, and if I have a query with an offside rule I'll ask them for help. It's not the most normal thing in the world having a football manager as a mum but they've supported me right from the start."

She added: "It's been an amazing season and I am very proud of the lads." The team say they see no problem with having a female manager.

Craig Everest, 16, of Whitehawk Road, said: "She doesn't know that much about football, but that's not important - it's the encouragement.

"She tells us she believes in us and that we are winners."

The Whitehawk boys also had another reason to succeed this year following the death of star player Jay Kensett in March.

The team were due to play Fiveways Youth on the day he was stabbed. The match was postponed and proved the deciding game of the season.

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