A Mitchell Cole XI featuring six West Ham players beat a Stevenage Borough 7-4 tonight at Broadhall Way in a benefit match for former Irons youth player and Stevenage favourite Mitchell Cole.
More than 2,000 fans turned up to see a high scoring encounter that saw Hammers stars Mark Noble, Matt Jarvis, Kevin Nolan, James Collins and Andy Carroll all find the back of the net before taking their leave at half time, as agreed before the match.
West Ham midfielder Joe Cole, Mitchell's brother-in-law, thanked his teammates for turning out to play and declared that the match was a fitting send-off for a man who the Hammers' number 26 says could have been a fine Premier League player, were it not for his health issues.
"I would like to thank all the fans who turned up, my teammates and everyone at Stevenage Football Club," Cole told whufc.com.
"It is a long season and there were some big names out there tonight. We all had a good night and raised a lot of money for charity, which is the main thing. I didn't manage to score, but I will save that for the weekend!"
The former England star was full of praise for Cole's ability as a player before he sadly passed away aged just 27, and said: "anyone who worked with him will tell you that Mitchell had a great left foot- his ability was unquestioned. He was diagnosed with a heart condition at 15 so affected him from a young age. If he hadn't had it, he would have made a top Premier League player."
"He had a decent career in the lower leagues but he was doing it in second gear because he couldn't push his body as much as he wanted to. He had a good career, he was a good family man and a good fella. We all loved him and it was great to see such a send-off for him."
All proceeds from the match will go to the Cardiomyopathy Association.
By Alex Shilling, News Editor
@alexshilling
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