Heartfelt tribute to grieving mother by Tadcaster Albion players

Tadcaster Albion's players gave a touching tribute to the club's popular barmaid Sonny Lang before Saturday's Northern Counties East League match against Liversedge.

Sonny lost her life-long battle with Cystic Fibrosis on Tuesday.

Led by captain Jimmy Beadle, members of the Albion squad gave Sonny's mum Anna-Marie Clark a hug on the sidelines in front of a packed clubhouse.

'Mesmerised and moved'

Beadle had earlier presented Anna with flowers and both sets of players joined supporters in a minute's applause in Sonny's memory before kick-off.

The official Tadcaster Albion Facebook page posted a video of the moment, and it was viewed more than 15,000 times inside one hour of being posted.

A message read: "I was totally choked up when the players instinctively broke away from the start of the game and followed Captain Jimmy Beadle, Josh Barrett and Jono Greening to give Sonny's mum a hug individually.

"I was mesmerised and moved beyond words and only started recording half way through but it totally captures the moment. Love this Taddy Family!"

Tadcaster went on to win the game 4-1 and Albion player Liam Ormsby saluted to the skies in memory of his good friend after scoring his team's first and second goals.

Tadcaster boss Billy Miller said: "It's been an emotionally draining week for us all.

"To have Sonny's mum and family here at the game was a real fitting tribute to a young lady who was inspirational to this football club and someone that every time you spent time in her company you came away feeling a lot happier.

"We had to prepare in the right way. Although the game wasn't a spectacle, to come away with a 4-1 win and be joint top, is a real fitting tribute to a young lady that inspired so many people."

Sonny's story

Sonny was diagnosed with the genetic condition Cystic Fibrosis when she was 13-months-old with doctors believing that her illness was already 'beyond redemption'.

But when she was four-years-old, Sonny became the youngest person with the condition to successfully undergo a heart and lung transplant.

Since that day, Sonny battled a series of setbacks from heart attacks to crippling arthritis until her lungs collapsed during a holiday in Crete in 2014.

Doctors confirmed her prognoses was now terminal as her organs would be too weak to survive another operation.

Sonny's friends were determined to fill whatever time she had left with incredible memories by raising money to fulfil her 'bucket list'.

An incredible £10,000 was raised for the bubbly young gymnast to help send her and her family on a dream holiday to Florida.

Tadcaster Albion, where both Sonny and her mother worked for seven years, also held a charity football game in October last year to help their cause.

More than 500 of Sonny's fans packed into the i2i Stadium to watch the star-studded game, raising almost £5,000 in the process.

Sonny's health deteriorated further when she was rushed to hospital on Sunday, January 31 after catching a virus which began to shut down her lungs.

After almost 10 days in hospital, Sonny was unable to battle the latest virus and died in the early hours of Tuesday morning.