Leeds United star Matthew Kilgallon swapped Elland Road for Tockwith Juniors last Saturday to open their brand new pitch.

Hundreds of the club's players aged from four to 17 joined the centre-half to celebrate the launch of the £30,000 pitch after two years of work.

Former Tadcaster Grammar School student and Appleton Roebuck resident Kilgallon spent time with the young players, showing off some of his skills and posing for pictures at the fun day.

Tockwith Juniors was formed four years ago by a group of parents and now has nine training groups across the ages with 160 members in total.

Last season saw a wave of honours for the club from the under-7s to girls U12s.

The U7s won the Lower Nidderdale Junior Friendly League after winning seven out of their eight games and drawing the other.

The U8s and U10s both finished as runners up in their respective Mitchell League divisions.

The U12s finished fourth out of 12 in their first tilt at full-size football and won the league sportsomanship trophy, while their female counterparts swept to success in the York Connexions League and only lost once - in the last minute of extra time in a cup semi-final.

The development of the pitch was driven forward by Mike Cross with extensive fundraising, including help from Tockwith and Bickerton parish councils and a Football Foundation grant providing the cash.

Thanks were also extended to Geoff Marston of the Tockwith Sportsfield Association and award-winning groundsman Joe Wilson for their support and expertise.

Steve Trenchard, chairman of the FA Charter Standard club, said: "Getting a new pitch like this doesn't happen overnight. A total cost of over £30,000 meant fundraising from Tockwith Parish Council and grants from the Football Foundation.

"Special thanks go to Mike Cross for his relentless energy and hard work.

"Thanks to Mike's leadership, our local community has a great facility for future generations of children to play football on."