Hundreds of people put their hands together in memory of two talented young footballers.

A charity football match held by Lawford Lads Football Club turned into a double tribute on Saturday.

Organised in honour of Darren Hawkins, who died in 2004 of leukemia aged 17, the match also paid homage to Ross Crouch, 23, who died after an accident on Cox's Hill, Lawford, last Monday.

Steve Cone, reserve team manager for Lawford, said the day was a celebration of the two young men.

"I was manager of the under-18s club when Darren used to play.

"In 2004 he initially started to become tired and lumps appeared on his arms.

"They thought it was glandular fever. He went for a blood test in Colchester Hospital - a week after that he died.

"He was 17 - it was 11 days before 18th birthday. It was terrible for everybody. We are not just a team, we are friends as well."

A plaque was unveiled on Saturday in memory of Darren Hawkins and money raised from the day will be donated to his fund in aid of Leukemia Research.

Ross Crouch was due to play in Saturday's match for the opposition team, Brantham Colts, but died after being in a collision with an Audi A3 car on his way home from a night with friends.

Tributes and flowers have been piling up at the scene.

Mr Cone added: "Ross's brother used to play for my team with Darren.

"Instead of a minute's silence there was a minute of clapping.

"It's what they would have wanted. There were more than 400 people at the match."

A signed Ipswich Town FC shirt was auctioned on the day and raised £210. Other football shirts including Manchester United and Wigan were prizes in the raffle.

  • More in tomorrow's Gazette