In scorching hot weather more likened to the beaches of Brazil, Santos made it a hat-trick of victories in the annual Abdul Valli Cup.

They had to battle for this one at times but when it comes to penalties this lot have nerves of steel.

In both their final two games they had to endure a penalty shoot-out against sides who were on paper better than them man for man.

In familiar fashion the likes of Nile, Santos, Deepdale and Canaries qualified through their respective groups.

Santos's route to the final saw them beat Nile 1-0 and AC Milham in the semi's. AC Milham have made twice to this stage in this tournament and looked a good bet to cause an upset. They should have made more of the few chances they had in normal time. When it went to penalties, Santo's Ibrahim Nakuda saw that they paid heavily.

The other finalists on the day picked off two Blackburn sides one by one on route to the final. First came Blackburn Catering, then Bank Top before a mammoth penalty shoot-out victory against Deepdale.

Canaries keeper Suleman Patel the hero of the day making some great saves to upstage penalty-king Fayyaz Bharucha.

In the final Canaries Javed Haji missed the best chance of the game. Well, it more than that - it was an open net. The game again went to penalties and Santos claimed the triple crown after Nakuda guessed correctly.

To say they are penalty specialists would be doubting these guys tournament pedigree. With the likes of Arif Esat at the back and Rizwan Patel leading the line the side make it difficult for sides to gain possession.

And once ahead they usually stayed ahead. Deepdale's Javed Mohammed picked up the player of the tournament trophy.

Organisers for the tournament would like to thank all the volunteers and referees who helped make the day another success. The tournament is held annually in memory of community worker Abdul Valli who died aged 27 in 2000.