A charity collection  at Runcorn Linnets' Buildbase FA Trophy 3rd Round Qualifying tie against fellow fabs-owned club FC United of Manchester raised £547.45 in aid of the Darby Rimmer Motor Neurone Disease Foundation.

The charity has been set up by former Liverpool, Bradford City and Bolton Wanderers footballer Stephen Darby and close friend, British Forces veteran Chris Rimmer.

Stephen, who is married to England women's captain Steph Houghton, and Chris both have Motor Neurone Disease and  created the Foundation to raise awareness of MND.

Collections at non-league clubs are being  organised by Craig Lindfield, who is a striker with our BetVictor NPL North West Division neighbours, Marine

Craig was a Northern Premier League title winner with FCUM, who he served in two spells.

He started his career with Liverpool as a youngster, being capped by England at Under 19s level.

Two players from Linnets' predecessor club, Runcorn AFC - Brian Pendlebury (a goalkeeper in the 1960s) and Steve Hipwell (midfield, 1970s) - died after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.

Josh Christian, Trust Board member (Community)at Runcorn Linnets (pictured centre) said: "We are happy to have been able to play a small part in helping Stephen and Chris and thank both sets of fans for generously supporting the collection and also those who volunteered to help with it."

The Foundation's aims are:

To fund and assist research into the illness with the quest of finding a cure

To raise funds for those with MND

To create a network to help provide information and an emotional support network for those diagnosed with the disease.

Craig Lindfield said on Twitter: "The counting is done. What an amazing total! I can't thank everyone who contributed enough."