Gary Bowyer has praised everyone connected to Bradford City and Liverpool FC after a historic day - contested in front of a record 24,343 crowd at the Utilita Energy Stadium - in aid of the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation.
The City boss believes the contest, which finished 3-1 to the visiting Reds, has succeeded in its mission to raise vital awareness for motor neurone disease and has set an important benchmark for more progress to be made in the future.
He said: “Today has been massive for the foundation and the cause. It has been absolutely unbelievable.
“We have raised lots of awareness for motor neurone disease. The challenge, now, is to continue that.
“Obviously for Stephen (Darby) and Chris (Rimmer)’s charity, that is the whole aim.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, everyone associated with Bradford City and Liverpool will continue to support the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, even further ahead.”
Despite eventually falling 3-1 to Jurgen Klopp’s European champions, Bowyer was pleased with how his players rose to the challenge and took on their visitors.
He is confident the occasion - and performance from his side - will prove rewarding once the Bantams get their 2019/20 campaign underway, in Sky Bet League Two.
The former Blackburn boss added: “I think our boys have done brilliantly - we were playing the European champions!
“We began the game nervously, which was to be expected, though we stuck at it and got a goal as well.
“There were a lot of positives out there today, from our defensive organisation to how hard we worked off the ball. It has been a very valuable lesson for us all.
“Hopefully, if we can get off to a good start this season and gather some momentum, this place will be rocking. That will give us a massive advantage.”