Players from Barnet Football Club were put through their paces in a close fought battle with a local football team.

Members of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust's (CNWL) service users' community football team were visited by six first team players from Barnet FC earlier this month on December 12.

Mark Bryne, Jake Hyde, Nick Jupp, Graham Stack, David Stephens and Curtis Weston all took part in a coaching session for the service users led by Barnet FC coach, Martin Flannery, before playing them in a friendly match.

The match, which was refereed by Simon Jenkins, Occupational Therapist at the CNWL, and held at Harrow Leisure Centre, where the community football team train during winter, finished 5-3 to Barnet FC.

Following the session, the Barnet FC players joined the service users' community football team for tea and cake hosted by Rethink Mental Illness at the Bridge Day Centre, where they presented the goal scorers with signed footballs.

Barnet Football Club captain, Graham Stack, enjoyed the visit to the centre and explained how important it is to give back to the community.

He said: “At all the clubs I've been to we have done hospital visits and it is very important especially at this time of the year. I think it’s good for the people you visit too whether it’s kids or adults

“It is always nice to do this sort of thing and it is important to take notice of what else is going on in the world away from football. I had a brilliant time and I think the rest of the lads did too."

Over the past few years, Barnet Football Club Community Trust has been working with the CNWL's Occupational Therapy Team to build a football team for local mental health service users in Harrow.

Lead Occupational Therapist at the CNWL, Di Hurley, expressed his gratitude to the team for the visit and the big impact they made on some of the service users there.

He said: “We are grateful to everyone involved in this wonderful event. Our team had a great day and one member of the community football team told me how proud they were to have had the opportunity to play with Barnet FC.”