The current Tottenham soccer stars may be earning their spurs at the moment with some fabulous performances under new boss George Graham, but at Hullbridge it was the North London club's stars of yesteryear that captured the plaudits.

Hundreds of fans packed into the Schweppes Essex Senior League club's Lower Road ground to see an ex-Spurs X1 take on their home favourites.

The match was to officially turn on the new floodlights at the ground and cash raised will be used towards paying for them.

Just how much the proceeds total will take a few days to work out, but club spokesman Keith Sinclair was in no doubt that the Tottenham elder statesmen had scored a major hit on the day.

As he and other club officials had finished clearing up at the end of a long but highly enjoyable day he said: "It's been a tremendous family day out.

"The ex-Spurs team showed some fantastic skills to prove that you never lose the ability that the pros have.

"They were very friendly and spent long periods signing autographs and were at the post-match buffet for well over an hour after the match finished."

Despite the ex-pros' efforts, Hullbridge, who used an almost entirely different team for each half on an uncustomary warm March afternoon, won 2-1 to keep the Fullmen Trophy, donated by match sponsors Fullmen Group, engineering, on home soil.

John Leek had given Hullbridge a 20th minute lead which Danny Alexis equalised for Spurs. Matt Petre grabbed Sports' winner, but only one particularly superb save from Hullbridge's goalkeeper Pat Overall ensured the home success.

Said Sinclair: "A draw would have been a perfect result. The Spurs' lads were a bit short on numbers and had to borrow a couple of players from us.

"My own 14 year-old son Adam came on for them as a second-half substitute and it was a real thrill for him. He was totally gobsmacked.

"We may have lost a few people who decided to go to the beach on such a lovely sunny day, but the 400 or so who were there enjoyed it tremendously.

"The whole occasion was a lot of hard work for Hullbridge officials, but it's certainly helped put us on the map."

The game was kicked off by Hullbridge's oldest member, Mike Norris, and there was a big thrill for teenager George Cheesewright who, having only recently passed his refereeing exams, took control of the special under-10s half-time five-a-side game.

Overall was named Hullbridge man of the match, with the Spurs prize going to Les Boughey.

A collection and raffle for Little Havens Children's Hospice is expected to have raised more than £300.

Big moment - for Spurs' brother and sister fans Sam (seven) and Katie (six) Hartnett as they collect the autograph of former Tottenham star Mark Falco

Picture: LUAN MARSHALL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.