Words John Edwards Pictures Noah Shulman-Miller

THE sun shines on the righteous, the saying goes, and it fairly beamed down on Stuart Coburn, around 40 of his former team-mates and several hundred well-wishers for the great man's testimonial at The J.Davidson Stadium.

Stuart emerged from the tunnel for one last time, flanked by his sons Finn, 16, and nine-year-old Jack, to a guard of honour from the two Altrincham squads taking part, 2005 and 2014, and chants of "England, England number one" from the Golf Road End.

It was the perfect celebration of his club record 689 appearances, an afternoon packed with all the usual testimonial features of goals galore, reminders of how certain players came to be such favourites back in the day and vital funds raised for a chosen charity, in this case the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, in memory of two of Stuart's former team-mates Mark Maddox and George Melling.

Unsurprisingly, the younger, more sprightly 2014 squad, with Paddy Lacey and Greg Wilkinson both looking particularly lean, fit and full of running, prevailed 5-2, though there was an early reminder of why their 2005 counterparts were such a force to be reckoned with when midfield enforcer Eddie Hussin clattered into Finn and left him flat on his back!

Close-range finishes by James Lawrie and Ryan Brooke in the opening quarter-of-an-hour set the tone, and there was a roar of approval soon after when Finn latched on to a quickly-taken free-kick and skipped round his dad before rolling the ball into an empty net to make it 3-0.

It became 4-0 when Kyle Perry powered home a Nicky Clee cross, but there were two first-half moments from the 2005 team that earned a mention in many a post-match chat in a packed Community Sports Hall bar.

First, Rod Thornley rolled back the years with a spectacular attempt on goal, as he launched himself into an acrobatic airborne scissor kick from a right-wing cross that flew narrowly over the bar, to gasps of admiration all round.

Then, shortly before half-time, Colin Little provided a reminder of the finishing skills that put him in the top bracket of Alty centre-forwards by meeting a Colin Potts cross from the right with a smart first-time finish, steering a shot on the turn into the bottom corner in vintage style.

We had to have at least one reminder of Stuart the shot-stopper supreme, and it arrived early in the second half when Brooke fired in a shot from inside the area and Alty's record appearance-holder showed the reflexes are as sharp as ever by plunging low to his right to palm it away.

There were other saves that drew appreciative cheers from a crowd thought to be in excess of 600, but that was, by some distance, the pick of the bunch.

We had three Coburns on the pitch when Jack ventured on as a second-half substitute, and it's fair to say there was no sign of nerves or stage-fright from the youngster, as he won a penalty with a cross that was handled by Luca Havern and coolly converted it by sending his dad the wrong way.

It became honours even in the Coburn household soon after when another penalty, again taken by Jack, was saved by Stuart, diving low to his right.

The best of the goals was saved until last late on, when a sublime one-touch combination between Wilkinson and Clee in midfield gave Lawrie the chance to cross for Perry to send a bullet header into the bottom corner at the end of a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

It remained only for Stuart to take to the microphone in the main stand to express his gratitude to Jones Contracts for kindly sponsoring the event and thank his old team-mates, club officials, including director Neil Faulkner, for organising it and so many of his friends and family and Robins fans for turning out and supporting his final appearance in Alty colours.