A proud Errol McKellar said it was ‘breath taking’ to see so many fans at Brisbane Road following the success of his second charity football match at Leyton Orient.

McKellar, who volunteers within Orient’s academy, organised the game on Sunday which saw a team of celebrities take on Martin Ling’s London Legends, which included the likes of Charlie Daniels, Gary Alexander, Scott McGleish, Chris Powell and the O’s current head coach Justin Edinburgh, to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK and mental health charity MIND.

The Orient youth team coach endured a brief battle with prostate cancer after being diagnosed in 2010 and has since been raising awareness of the disease for Prostate Cancer UK.

On Sunday, it was the London Legends who were triumphant at Brisbane Road, as a late strike from Scott McGleish sealed a 5-4 win over the celebrity XI, which included former Orient boss Omer Riza who notched twice during the game.

Given the success of the day, which saw a number of supporters and former Orient players turn out in support of the well-loved youth team coach, McKellar couldn’t contain his pride after the final whistle.

He said: “It’s been absolutely breath taking. I’m proud of all these wonderful people who have come here, helped me support the cause and helped me raise awareness of an illness which affects all of us.

“Everyone is aware of the stats and the numbers. But you look at the crowd today and they were fully supportive of the issues that we’ve faced. Martin Ling has gone through his issues with MIND. I’ve been through my issues with Prostate Cancer, so it’s something we’ve done together. These guys have helped me through the battle when I was here.

“It’s so important to raise awareness about prostate cancer because it’s a silent killer. It’s killing one man every hour. It’s very frightening. This issue is not going to go away and we have to put the message across about why it’s so important to do something about it.”

The Orient academy coach’s charitable work saw him win the hero volunteer award at the NHS’ Heroes Awards last week and he is already in talks about staging another charity game at Brisbane Road in the future.

He said: “I didn’t want to have this match anywhere else. I’ve got a great support network here and I am very proud and honoured to work alongside the staff in this football club because they give 110% and I’m very proud that they are a part of what goes on with all of this.

“We’ve got new owners and they are all about bringing the community together and they wanted me to do this in this club and bring everyone together. We are in talks to do this again and with this sort of turnout, it’s inevitable.”

Orient’s director of football Martin Ling has known McKellar for over 20 years and also played a key role in the day, managing the team of London Legends during the game for MIND Hertfordshire.

Ling’s battles with mental health have been well documented, although he told the Guardian Series in an interview ten days ago that he is currently in a good place in his life and thoroughly enjoying his new position with the O’s.

As a patron of East Herts MIND, Ling was delighted to see Orient fans turn out in force to raise awareness of the issue, while also praising the impact of the likes of McGleish and AFC Bournemouth’s Daniels.

He said: “I thought Scott McGleish came on and was absolutely outstanding in the second half. He still plays quite a good standard of veterans football which you can tell and he always scores in every game he plays, doesn’t he? You had Charlie Daniels who is a Premier League player out there today who has come along and given his time freely for us. It was great to have those players out there.

“For us, before the game I was doing a live interview on Sky Sports News. People have come out and they understand that prostate cancer and mental health issues are big things in today’s society. For me and Errol, we are delighted in terms of the fans coming out but also the media exposure that has come about which has been really good.”