THE hairlines may be a little thinner and the shorts a little bigger but class is permanent as Blue Brazil legends showed as they rolled back the years on Sunday.

The charity match at Central Park against a Cowden Miners select featured a number of the club's former players who returned to strut their stuff for a good cause.

Kitman Colin Nelson was the man who came up with the idea and he found no shortage of supporters wanting to ‘buy’ their place in one of the sides, with all the proceeds going to club funds.

He told Times Sport: “Firstly I want to thank every single one of the players, volunteers, those who donated money and the fans who turned up.

“Everyone got behind this cause and I am truly, truly grateful the event was a huge success.

"The monies raised to date is £3,650, with a little bit still to come in. So it was an amazing effort and all this money goes to the club for our new venture and era."

The Blue Brazil squad featured Lee Wilson, Dickie Baillie, David Cowan, Bryan Gilfillan, Scott Linton, Joe Mbu, Maurice Ross, Colin Cameron, Martyn Fotheringham, Marc McKenzie, Mark Ramsay, Jon Robertson, Jay Stein, Lewis Coult, John Dempster and Greg Stewart, as well as Nelson and fans Grant Allan, Mike Ash, Patrick Fogg and Connor Moyes.

The Cowden Miners called on Shaun Hunter, Dave McGurn, Kenny Adamson, Mark Baxter, Gus Malone, Kevin McBride, Craig McMillan, Pat Scullion, Lee Dair, Brian Fairbairn, Gary Fusco, Stephen Manson, Jamie Stevenson, Craig Winter, Ryan McCallum, David McKenna, Dene Shields and Gareth Wardlaw, along with fans Cameron Baillie, Gareth Birrell, David Byrne, Murray Hughes and Liam Maxwell.

After a grand game the Blue Brazil took the honours with a 4-2 scoreline thanks to goals from Coult, McKenzie, Cameron and Dempster, with a Shields penalty and a strike from McCallum counting for the Miners XI.

Nelson said: “I’m most pleased with the community engaging in Sunday’s event and pulling together, offering help and their services.

"It is humbling and shows you the efforts and sacrifice people are willing to make for this great club. I had a wonderful message from the chairman thanking me.

“The actual day was great despite the weather changing a little before the game!

"The players loved it and a few lads did, indeed, show they still have that class and ability despite their ages or retirements from senior football!

“A great group of boys and I think they enjoyed seeing each other again, many of whom had not met up since the Mixu Paatelainen era.

“Lads like Greg Stewart showed his affection for the club.

"Despite signing a lucrative two year deal in India, he was willing to play even though he said pre-game ‘Just give me 20 minutes then I will come off, I don’t want to get injured’.

"After 40 minutes I still couldn’t get him off the pitch!”

He concluded: “The game ended 4-2 to The Blue Brazil team and for anyone watching on

You Tube via our stream they would have seen some excellent goals! The pick of the bunch was definitely from Lewis Coult.

“It was a great day and we will look to hold something similar at least every two years."