A PRIMARY school pupil has shown that girl power can succeed even in the male-dominated world of football.

Rochelle Dennis notched up a double when her match prediction beat the opposition to bring home a pair of goalposts for Carley Hill Primary School, Sunderland.

During the Euro 2000 football championships the Sunderland school meals service issued pupils with a soccer challenge - to predict the score of the England versus Portugal game.

On offer was not only the opportunity for girls to triumph over the boys, but also the chance of winning some new boots and the set of goalposts.

The result was that Rochelle scored a winning goal by correctly guessing the outcome of the match as 3-2 to Portugal.

Now the young Sporty Spice is the toast of her school and looks likely to be adopted as the primary's football team's mascot next term.

Handing over the goalposts to Rochelle, who was proudly wearing her Sunderland top, Colin Ranson, assistant head of facilities management, said: "Our competitions are always a big success in the schools, but the Euro competition really captured the mood of all our primary school children, who were keen to display their knowledge in games.

He added: "I am delighted that Rochelle was the winner, which just goes to show that boys don't know everything when it comes to football.

"You never know, maybe Carley Hill Primary School will go on to produce a future Sunderland or England player.''