HISTORIC shirts worn by a unique goalscoring duo have helped net £1,000 for a worthy cause.
The shirts worn by Hartlepool United’s goalscoring double-act Peter Hartley and James Poole went under the hammer to boost the club’s youth development fund.
The winning bid of £970 for the appropriately-named shirts was made by town businessman Ray Liddell, who owns Cactus Products, who then generously rounded the figure up to £1,000.
Hartley and Poole combined to score the goals that helped secure a crucial 2-1 win over Notts County at Victoria Park earlier this month.
Their exploits hit the international headlines with football fans as far away as Australia reading about their efforts.
Social media websites were awash with comments and the pair were trending on Twitter within hours of the final whistle.
As a result of the unique feat, the football club decided to offer football fans and memorabilia collectors the chance to bag the actual shirts worn by the goalscorers with all of the money made from the auction directed straight in to the club’s youth development fund.
The auction finished at the weekend and club officials say they are delighted with the amount raised.
The club’s chief executive Russ Green added: “It’s overwhelming to see how much this has raised and I can’t thank Ray enough.
“The goals were important in winning us three points but for us to also secure a significant donation for youth development too is the icing on the cake.
“We had a great deal of positive publicity over the Hartley-Poole win so we’re delighted that we’ve been able to create a bit of football history and raise a few smiles too.”
Mr Liddell will now be invited along to enjoy hospitality at Victoria Park at a future game where he will be presented with the stylishly-framed shirts by the players themselves.
Ever since Poole signed for the club in the summer of 2011, headline writers have been waiting for the aptly-named duo to find the back of the net in the same game.
The pair even found themselves on Sky Sports television.
Ray first hit the headlines in 2009 when his Hartlepool-based company won the Mail-backed If we can, you can competition thanks to the spiky strips which he supplies called The Cactus.
Since then, he says, word has spread and orders are coming in from all over the world.
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