ONE of the region's stalwart football stars last night told of his sadness and anger over the bomb scare which ruined his testimonial match.

Long-serving former Darlington captain Craig Liddle said he was shocked by the abandonment of an emotional friendly game in honour of his seven years at the club.

His former club, Middlesbrough, sent a star-studded team to the Williamson Motors Stadium on Saturday for a match which attracted more than 6,000 fans.

But the occasion ended in chaos after a hoax caller told police that there was a bomb inside the £20m venue.

A tannoy announcement told supporters that the game, which stood at 0-0 at half-time, would not be restarting and asked them to leave the ground immediately.

A search of the Neasham Road ground found no evidence of any suspect package.

Last night, Liddle said: "After the bomb scares in Darlington a couple of weeks ago, I said to my wife it would be just my luck that something like that would happen.

"But you don't for one minute think it will happen, and I just hope everyone had a good day up until then. I'd love to get hold of whoever made the phone call.

"My son, Ben, was being ball boy at the other end of the ground when the announcement came and we ended up losing him. He was absolutely distraught when we found him."

Liddle, who was in an office inside the stadium when the announcement was made, said: "I put a bus on for my mates from Chester-le-Street and, even though it was cut short, they had a fantastic day.

"It would have been nice to have had the full day, but unfortunately some idiot had to ruin it for everyone."

He added: "The reception I received from both sets of fans was pretty special. I'm just really saddened that their day was cut short."

In extraordinary scenes outside the ground, Premiership superstars such as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Mark Viduka and Ayegbeni Yakubu milled around with the departing fans.

Players from both clubs, still in their football kits, climbed into their cars and waited to leave the ground.

A wedding reception for Darlington couple Paul and Debbie Carroll, being held at the stadium, was also cut short.

Quakers chairman Stewart Davies said of the decision to call off the match: "It wasn't a difficult decision. We had to abandon the game, and we will take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.

"I'm pleased to say that we've now had a practice evacuation of the stadium and it went very well. All of the procedures worked perfectly."