MORE than 14,000 people turned out on Sunday to support Darlington Football Club in its hour of need.

The record crowd at the Reynolds Arena will help to keep the crisis-hit Quakers afloat.

The two fundraising games - which starred legends Kenny Dalglish, Bryan Robson, Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle and Paul Gascoigne - had to be delayed by almost an hour due to the sheer numbers queuing for tickets.

The club went into administration before Christmas and debts are now known to be about £20m.

The administrators said a crowd of 7,000 would be a major boost to pay wages and bills - but fans doubled that with a crowd of 14,200.

Manager David Hodgson, said: "I am absolutely delighted with the turnout. We never expected that we would get such a big crowd and it has been a fantastic day." Members of Darlington's two Wembley squads, from 1996 and 2000, turned out to play a celebrity team in one of the two hour-long matches.

The current Darlington squad also played against a team including Waddle and Gascoigne.

A cleaning company boss who paid £3,000 to play in goal was nursing a broken finger.

Andrew Scullion, who runs Total Cleaning Company, saved a shot from Darlington striker Barry Conlon that broke his finger.

The lifelong Darlington fan was playing in goal for a team including Gascoigne, Robson and Dalglish. Mr Scullion said: "Playing in that match was worth every second and every penny - even a broken finger." Others who won a place in the match following a Northern Echo auction were Bradley Woods, managing director of Technocopy, Kevin McDaid, managing director of Agility Systems, and Paul Colman, who works at Magnet in the town.

Darlington fan Mr Woods scored a goal in the all-star game. He said: "It was a dream come true - just to be in the changing rooms with all those world-class players was equally as good as playing on the pitch with them.

"To score a goal at the end of the game was a lifetime ambition, especially in front of 14,000 people, the biggest crowd I have ever seen there."

Mr Colman, who played in the second all-star line-up against Darlington's Wembley squads, said: "It was really nerve-wracking but one of the best days of my life."

Mr McDaid, who played full-back in the first game, flanked by Robson and Waddle, said: "It was tremendous that the ex-internationals would give their time to support Darlington FC and it was a privilege playing on the same side as them."

Lewis Raper, a 14-year-old Hummersknott School pupil, was linesman for 15 minutes after his father, Neil, paid £100 to the club to surprise him.

A £6m cash injection is needed long-term to save the club. But only one bidder - a consortium of local businessmen - is expected to be able to meet the deadline for bids.

Darlington Supporters' Trust, which launched an appeal to raise £250,000 by the end of March, said it had raised about £5,000 with collections at the ground and in the town over the weekend.

The huge crowds caused traffic chaos around the town, with jams on the A66 stretching back into the town centre.