Carlisle Legends 7 Workington Legends 6: The sun came out towards the end of a grey afternoon as the game approached its final stages. Three men, each with 'HOPPER 8' on their blue shirts, were on the pitch towards the end of an entertaining hour-and-a-half.

What happened then was perhaps the most moving thing Brunton Park has seen. At full-time, heroes and legends of Carlisle United and Workington Reds formed a guard of honour so long it went halfway from the tunnel to the centre circle.

Tony Hopper spotted someone in the crowd and waved. Then, flanked by his brothers, Darren and David, he walked.

Applause instinctively burst from those who had gathered in the Main Stand and Paddock. With each step, the final ritual of the day proved too much for Tony's emotions. Players responded with hugs and, as the crowd saw more clearly that Tony was crying, the song went up.

"There's only one Tony Hopper...one Tony Hopper..."

The man at the centre of these extraordinary scenes saw his eldest son Daniel and embraced him tightly. He then found the strength to clap and wave again before he disappeared from view.

A good many eyes were then wiped. Two players from different Carlisle generations, Steve Hoolickin and Matt Jansen, both said the same thing later: everyone in that guard of honour had shed a tear.

Sometimes football drives you to the end of your wits. It holds the door open to cynicism. But this was the profound opposite: a sad but special afternoon that reminded you of the good the game can do.

It was a day of love, of community, of links that cannot be broken. Old players had come from all corners to turn out for Tony and recapture lost times. Supporters from this county also showed that they remembered and cared.

Motor neurone disease, which Tony is confronting, is an evil, pitiless thing. Everyone who came knew that, and so they wanted to give their small percentage contribution to lifting Tony for a day.

It had, as he said himself, been a day of memories, old and new. It was a Cumbrian football reunion, above all. In this environment Tony Hopper made his name and established his reputation, and that reputation brought them all back; first on Saturday night, at a private function in Foxy's Restaurant, and then yesterday, a charity game that has been in the planning since Tony and his family went bravely public with his diagnosis.

Organised tirelessly by Colin Carter, Derek Walsh and Ian Milburn, it delivered all one could have wished for: entertainment, goals, humour and nostalgia. Some of the action took you back 20 years or more; other cameos were only previously possible with the most vivid imagination.

A contest between blue and red, it treated us to the sight of Jansen and Delap, golden boys of the 1990s, linking up in the opening minutes. This was in a Carlisle line-up comprised of Tony's former YTS colleagues from that famously productive period.

Workington scored first and second, when Shaun Vipond and Dan Kirkup both shot past Tony Caig, the lead halved when Scott Dobie went down in the box and Jansen put away the penalty.

There were a good number more spot-kicks awarded during the game, such was the ceremony. After 30 minutes another era of United players came on, bringing Dean Walling, Rod Thomas, Steve Hayward and others back to acclaim. Grant Holt, Mark Boyd and Lee Hoolickin were among the Workington arrivals. Will Varty, who had started for Carlisle, swapped colours.

Three more penalties came quickly. Milburn smashed home the first for 2-1 to Reds. At the Warwick Road End, Thomas gave Adam Collin an easy save. Back downfield, Walling's challenge on Holt was penalised. The defender did not like the decision but Milburn sent the kick into the car park. Jonny Allan then pulled one back for United.

There were traces of old magic in some of these cameos: Allan Smart dropping the shoulder and shooting wide, Jansen's feints and turns, Dobie's bursts of pace, Hayward's midfield passing. A United corner was won and a call of "Deano" came from the crowd, all the way from 1995. Richard Prokas went into a sliding tackle; a free-kick the outcome.

For Thomas, there was an unfortunate end, as he went down with a hurt achilles. His former physio, Pete Hampton, helped him off, as Peter Murphy dinked home Carlisle's third.

It was then time for the fresh legs of 68-year-old George McVitie and his less experienced substitute, Hoolickin (65). There was no more nostalgic rush all day than the moment the ball was sent to Brunton Park's right wing and there to receive it, to a great cheer, was McVitie, who first ran down that line in 1965.

It mattered not that McVitie's control and cross were followed by a stumble and a fall. The crowd loved that the legend had put his boots on and joined in. Off he was cheered a minute after coming on, arm in arm with Mick Wadsworth, Carlisle boss again for a day.

After more substitutions, Murphy made it 4-3, and Graham Anthony replied. Darren and David Hopper then came on, followed by Tony, back towards the pitch where he had lived his dreams.

He hugged the man he was replacing, Paul Murray, before finding his old midfield ground. His first touch brought fresh applause and when Carlisle got a corner, the ball was conveyed to Tony inside the box and he stroked it low into the net.

That would have been a suitable enough ending. But it went on, David Hopper scoring a penalty, Collin jogging up the other end to beat Matty Glennon with one for Workington, Paul Boertien slamming United's seventh and Gareth Arnison popping home the last for Workington.

Seven-six; happily irrelevant. What meant more was that the game ended with Hopper at the heart of a team of Cumbrians, the same as he had grown as a Carlisle player. What meant more was the way everyone then reached out to him again.

What meant more was that Tony Hopper was told, to borrow the song, that he was one of our own; surrounded by brothers, embraced by a football community, draped forever in red and blue.

CARLISLE PLAYERS including: Tony Caig, Neil Dalton, Rory Delap, Will Varty, Mike McKechnie, Matt Jansen, Chris Grainger, Gary Gill, Shane Bird, Mark Cleeland, Richard Prokas, Michael Jack, Jonny Allan, Paul Boertien, Paul Murray, Scott Dobie, Rod Thomas, Steve Hayward, Allan Smart, Dean Walling, Brendan McGill, Stuart Whitehead, Peter Keen, Steve Harkness, Steve Skinner, Billy Barr, Andy Couzens, Gareth McAlindon, Peter Murphy, George McVitie, Steve Hoolickin, Matty Glennon, Mark Birch, Derek Walsh, Ian Arnold, Darren Hopper, David Hopper, Tony Hopper. Non-playing: Derek Mountfield, Jamie Robinson, Tony Gallimore, Jeff Thorpe. Manager/coaches: Mick Wadsworth, David Wilkes, Pete Hampton

WORKINGTON PLAYERS including: Adam Collin, Derek Townsley, Kyle May, Gavin Skelton, Darren Edmondson, Dan Kirkup, Shaun Vipond, Craig Johnston, Matt Henney, Craig Potts, Will Varty, Alan Gray, Mark Boyd, Lee Hoolickin, Grant Holt, Ian Milburn, Steve Archibald, Dave Hewson, Graham Anthony, John Wharton, Darren Wilson, Stuart Williamson, Wayne Johnson, Anthony Wright, Graham Goulding, Gareth Arnison, Mark Eccles, Gary Milne, Marc Green, Jonny Wright. Manager/coaches: Dave Hewson, Darren Edmondson