IT was a special weekend for Charlie Russell on and off the pitch thanks to the support of his Worcester City Youth under 10s team-mates.

On Saturday, Russell scored twice and won the gold award for his performance in a tough match against Alvechurch.

The following day the City squad swapped their football boots for running shoes to take part in the Birmingham Junior Run in memory of Charlie’s brother James O'Mara.

He had died last year aged 13 just seven days after being diagnosed with an acute and particularly aggressive form of leukaemia.

When the team found out that Charlie was going to enter the run to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH), who cared for his brother so well during his short illness, they decided to join him.

“James was an enthusiastic supporter at every one of our matches so the lads knew him well,” said coach Simon Lancaster.

“There’s a fantastic team spirit and camaraderie between the lads and they wanted to support Charlie which they did literally every step of the way.

“In torrential rain the boys ran together as a group, completing the 2.5 kilometres in a phenomenal 13 minutes and raising well over £1,000 for BCH.”

In other City youth matches over the weekend, there were emphatic cup wins for the under 15s and under 14s who beat Wiltshire Football AFC 7-2 and Feckenham 16-0 respectively.

The girls' under 18s were denied a win by a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at AFC Telford with their young under 10s counterparts turning in their best performance of the season so far against Wyre Forest Phoenix.

The under 11s fought back from two goals down at Kidderminster Harriers while Evesham United got the better of derbies between the clubs’ Midland Floodlit Youth League and under 13s sides.