Bradford City old boys took to the pitch yesterday at a football match to raise money for the club’s Burns Unit Appeal.

The Telegraph & Argus backed appeal aims to raise £100,000 for the research unit, set up in the aftermath of the Valley Parade fire disaster.

The match was especially poignant as it was held at the ground two days before the 25th anniversary of the tragic fire, which claimed 56 lives and injured more than 190.

Former players including Peter Beagrie, John Hendrie, Wayne Jacobs and Jamie Lawrence played against Clitheroe FC, the Co-operative Challenge Trophy Cup Lancashire winners.

Peter Ryan, the Co-op’s regional operations manager, said: “The Co-operative has a long standing within Bradford and at the time of the fire I know colleagues were affected. It’s close to the hearts of people in Bradford.”

Stuart McCall, who stood down as Bradford City manager in February, returned to manage the team for yesterday’s game.

He said: “Today is important for a number of reasons. The people that were lost will never be forgotten and on a day like this to mark that tragedy, all the lads are desperate to come down and get involved with it.”

Joseph Smith, 55, from Shipley, sat in the stands with his son Kevin and grandson Thomas, aged four.

He said: “I’ve brought my grandson to watch some of the old players. He knows what it’s to mark – he’s four but we’ve explained it to him. We think it’s really important he learns what happened.”

The final score after an entertaining game was 4-3 to Clitheroe.