A CHILD born with severe cerebral palsy has defied doctors predictions by kicking his first football.

The parents of three-year-old Finley Rosbotham, who is from Oswaldtwistle, were told when their son was born that he would never be able to move the left side of his body to walk or crawl.

But since starting intensive physiotherapy, plus speech therapy, at Accrington’s Holly House, he has made astounding progress.

Mum Kelly said the youngster would also soon be starting a trial at Manchester University called the Mirror Box Scheme to encourage his development further.

She said: “It is like another miracle.

“Mentally he is not coming on as quickly as we would hope but physically he has gone up and beyond all our expectations.

“He can now kick a football and he thinks if he has a football he plays for Blackburn Rovers. He loves Rovers and anything to do with football.

“When we went for his check-up last week, the doctor said he was doing more than they ever thought he would.

“He has got to be a typical little boy, he is running round causing trouble, but we just love it, we never tell him to sit down.”

The trial at Manchester University will involve using mirrors on the right side on Finley’s body so that when he is playing, the movements are reflected and his brain is prompted to react.

He will be allowed to be signed up once he turns five. Full-time mum Kelly said the family was now hoping Finley would be enrolled at Peel Park Primary School in Accrington in September.

She said: “I am so proud of Finley.

“He is not my little boy any more, he is growing up.”

And she added: “We don’t know how he is going to get on, but we have high hopes for him.”