A MEMORIAL football match held in memory of a local player saw many of his old team-mates turning out to play and raise vital cash.
Wombwell Town hosted Worsbrough Bridge at their Station Road ground in the Daniel Wilkinson Memorial Trophy last Monday, with the home side welcoming nine of Daniel’s former Shaw Lane team-mates into their line-up.
Daniel died aged 24 on the pitch while playing for Shaw Lane at Brighouse in 2016, due to a condition arrythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC).
His family set up the Daniel Wilkinson Foundation in his name to raise funds and awareness, and they have gone on to install defibrillators at several local clubs.
Doug O’Connor - who played for Barnsley in the early 1970s - took charge of the Wombwell Town XI alongside his former assistant at Shaw Lane, John Reed.
The match was 1-1 after ten minutes - Alfie Dodsworth opening for the Briggers before Matty Thornton headed in former Shaw Laner Alex Byrne’s cross - but the visitors bagged the winner through Luke Francis four minutes into the second half.
Former Shaw Lane chairman Craig Wood presented Worsbrough Bridge with the trophy - which is hoped to be contested annually from now having been inaugurated in a match between Shaw Lane and Brighouse in 2017.
Ryan Qualter led the ex-Shaw Lane contingent of Byrne, Neil Austin, Joe Thornton, Oscar Radford, Spencer Harris, Stevie Istead, and Kelvin and Kieran Lugsden.
