DAUGHTERS of a cup-winning footballer are offering a reward for the return of his medals two years after they were stolen.

The nine carat gold medals belonging to Robert Alderson were in a safe which was stolen during a burglary at his daughter Hazel Pybus’s home in Willington.

Now an internet campaign has been launched to reunite his daughters Hazel and Maria Di Martino with their father’s medals.

Mr Alderson, who died in 2009, won both gold medals in the 1949-50 football season while playing for Willington Town FC.

One was for the Northern League Challenge Cup and the other was presented to the winners of the FA Amateur Cup at Wembley.

Each medal had Mr Alderson’s name inscribed as well as the date they were won.

Mrs Pybus said she had felt a growing urge to have the medals back after pictures of her family and their prominence in Willington were posted on a history page on Facebook dedicated to the town.

She said: “Seeing those pictures reminds me of what we have lost.

“Those medals meant an awful lot to our Dad and it was heartbreaking when they were taken.

“He gave them to us to pass on down the family, having them taken from us was terrible.”

Steve Longhorn has posted an appeal on the Willington Past and Present page on Facebook appealing for the medals to be returned.

He said: “This family has been well respected throughout Willington for many years.

“Let’s help them out and get these medals back to their rightful owner.”

Willington, who according to a commentator at the time were “unfancied and unheralded”, beat the powerful Bishop Auckland FC at the FA Amateur Cup final in Wembley.

Willington won 4-0 due, in the eyes of a commentator for Pathe News, in no small part to their “lanky, spider-like” goalkeeper Jack Snowdon. Mr Alderson played as left full-back in the 2-0 FA Amateur Cup semi-final win over Barking in front of 30,000 spectators in Middlesbrough.

He was a reserve for the final, and Mrs Pybus said he was more proud of his Northern League Challenge Cup medal won in the same season.

Anyone with information on the medals can contact The Northern Echo on 01388-602232 or email duncan.leatherdale@nne.co.uk