After 16 hours of non-stop football, the result of Market Lavington’s marathon five-a-side charity football competition had to be resolved by a golden goal.

Organiser Mike Van Den Bergh couldn’t believe it when the final score between the red team and the blue team ended at 317 goals apiece.

He said: “Most of the football was played between the kids and I think the red team just had it. But the last two hours were between the adults and it got very competitive.

“So it was astonishing that it ended up honours even and we had to play extra time for a golden goal to sort it out. In the end the blue team won, which pleased me as I’m a Chelsea supporter.”

But the biggest winners of the day were the charities CLIC Sargent and the Gazette’s Help for Heroes appeal, who will share the proceeds of £2,853. The event kicked off at 6am in the sports hall at Lavington School on Wednesday December 29 and ran until 10pm that evening.

Those taking part were aged eight to 80. The oldest competitor was former Army captain Bill Coulthard, aged 80, from Northbrook. He and his wife Mary celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in April 2009.

He said: “I only played five minutes with some of the kids and I knew my playing days were over. My trainers felt like lead.

“I hadn’t done any training since I played a full 90-minute game last year so I shouldn’t have expected any better, but to wake up and realise you’re never going to play another game of football is a bit of a shock.

“But it was a fantastic event and has raised a lot of money for two very good causes. The people who organise these events are the ones who ought to appear in the Honours List.”

Mr Van Den Bergh thanked his co-organisers Chris Pearce and Alan Mitchell.

He said: “It was a lot of effort and we are going to have to talk about whether we want to do it again next year.”