On Sunday afternoon Crystal Palace FC Community Sports Trust , in support of the Give the Red Card to Knife Crime campaign, successfully hosted a Charity Match between a Mark Bright Legends XI and a Soccer Six Celebrity XI.

A crowd of 2,317 gathered to watch the spectacle, with some big names from Palace's past lining up to support the cause.

The Legends team included former favourites such as Alan Pardew, Chris Coleman, Dougie Freedman, Clinton Morrison and Neil Shipperley, while on the other side names from the world of celebrity such as Danny Dyer, Tamer Hassan and Ralf Little formed the opposition.

But first, there was the important matter of deciding who were to be the finalists of the Give the Red Card to Knife Crime Under 15 and Under 18 tournaments.

These were tournaments run by the Crystal Palace Community Sports Trust alongside a series of workshops to promote the message of the campaign and educate the participants of the realityt of knives and violence.

The tournaments were held over a course of two weeks at various destinations, with the four winners taking part in the semi-finals on the Selhurst Park pitch before the game.

For the Under 15s it was Brit vs Auckland Rise and Milne Park vs Canterbury Road, with Auckland Rise and Canterbury Road progressing through to the final.

For the Under 18s it was Milne Park vs Monks Hill and South Norwood vs Canterbury Road, with Monks Hill and Canterbury Road the victors.  

With that decided, the crowd were then treated to a pre-match taster.

A small pitch was sectioned off infront of the dugouts to create a make-shift pitch for two teams of female Celebrities to line up against eachother.

The glamorous bunch, that included former Pop trio Cleopatra, X Factor finalists Bad Lashes, Ibiza DJ Miss Maverik and pop star Sadie Ama, took to the pitch in support of the campaign for a 20 minute match and the press cameras flanked the pitch to watch Team Cleopatra run out deserved winners.

With the crowd suitably warmed up it was time to welcome the two teams, with the Palace Legends running out first.

But, with the atmosphere in the home dressing room a visibly warm one all afternoon, there was still time for John Humphrey to be the victim of a practical joke by Chris Coleman.

As the Legends were led through the tunnel, the Coventry City manager allowed his former team mate and captain for the day run out before holding back the rest of his team, leaving Humphrey to lap up the applause on his own.

Premier League referee Stuart Attwell then called in the two captains for the toss, with the celebrities choosing to kick off.

The tempo of the first half rarely broke a jogging pace, but the quality of movement and passing of the pros was on display from the off as the celebrities, despite boasting a greater pool of youth in their squad, struggled to cope.

The scoring began midway through the half when Clinton Morrison combined neatly with Dougie Freedman to round Neville Southall and side foot home.

He then made it two soon after when he was again fed by Freedman to be left with only a simple conversion to make it 2-0.

Freedman got his goal towards the end of half. Pulling the ball out of the air from a corner, he took one more touch to control it before firing past Southall at the near post.

At half time it was 3-0 to the Palace Legends.

During the break the Give the Red Card to Knife Crime tournament took place to reach its conclusion.

For the Under 15s it was Auckland Rise vs Canterbury Road and for the Under 18s it was Monks Hill vs Canterbury Road.

In the Under 15s match Auckland Rise ran out winners, while in the Under 18s game it was Monks Hill that were victorious. Both teams would be awarded trophies at the end of the match.

The teams then re-surfaced for the second half and the Legends continued to dominate the tempo and got their fourth in stunning style. Alan Pardew, on at the break, was found lurking on the edge of the box in plenty of space to pick his spot and unleash a terrific drive into the top corner.

The Celebrities responded almost straight away though through former Palace star Chris Armstrong. He was slipped through the defense with an excellent ball, then took the ball into the box where he calmly side footed it past Andy Woodman in the Palace goal.

And the scoreline was reduced again moments later from quite probably the best goal of the game when former pro Dean Holdsworth was found just inside the box. He controlled the ball with one touch, let it bounce before hitting an unstoppable half volley into the roof of the net to make it 4-2.

But Palace's quality shone through in the end and two final goals from Neil Shipperley and Mark Bright sealed a convincing victory for the former pros.

First was Shipperley, who showed that his goalscoring instinct was still as strong as ever when he fired a difficult shot across the keeper from a tight angle.

Then, the goal that everyone was waiting for. On as a late substitute, Mark Bright was found unmarked in the box with a looping cross. He set himself with both hands on his knees and met the ball with a cheeky backward header that looped over the keeper and eluded the desperate effort by a Hoosier to clear it off the line.

The match finished 6-2 to the Palace Legends with the Celebrities putting in a valiant display and really helped to make the whole day a success.

All that was left was for Bright to hand out the awards for the teams who won their tournaments,  Monks Hill and Auckland Rise, and for him to lift the Give the Red Card to Knife Crime match trophy, awarded to him by Acting Borough Commander, Adrian Roberts.