PLAYERS at Ledbury Town Football Club were due to face the biggest match of their lives against Manchester United's reserve squad last night.

A thousand tickets were sold for the game, held in memory of three members of the same family killed in a minibus crash near Manchester in July.

First team manager Paul Wilband said: "First and foremost it's for the family and the money is going to charity. It's brilliant for the town and the players but people have got to remember that it's for the two lads left behind."

Sixteen-year-old Richard McCoig-Lees, who survived the crash, and his brother Matthew, 19, were both due to attend the match and will nominate local charities to receive the proceeds. The brothers lost their parents Martin and Denise and nine-year-old brother Ryan in the accident.

Unlike the United squad travelling down for the game, most of the Ledbury team spent the day working. Top scorer Robbie Colwell, 25, got up at 5am and spent the morning driving a fork-lift truck at his job in Gloucester. Right back Nick Welch, 23, was working in a Hereford bank just hours before the kick-off.

Both are lifelong Manchester United fans, like five other members of the squad. However, Robbie had no qualms about taking on his favourite team.

"I'm hoping to get one or two in against my own club," he said.

The players revealed that club chairman Chris Stephens was a Manchester City fan but was happy to invite his team's rivals down for the memorial match. Kieran Richardson, Mark Lynch and Danny Pugh were among the United player due to take part in the match.

For a full report on the match, see next week.