A LIFELONG Bolton Wanderer’s fan has recreated the Burnden Park ground on a video game in memory of the 33 people who died in the ‘forgotten disaster’ of 1946.

Matthew Rushton, 25, from Johnson Fold, came up with the idea last year after finding out his great-grandfather attended the tragedy that day.

Thirty-three Bolton Wanderers fans were crushed to death, and another 400 injured, in the FA Cup sixth round tie between Bolton and Stoke City - making it Britain’s deadliest stadium-related disaster until Ibrox Park in 1971.

The warehouse worker, who grew up in Halliwell, started the 3D reconstruction on New Year’s Eve - so he could finish it in time for the 75th anniversary of the Burnden Park disaster.

He said: “One piece of motivation for this project was the lack of a physical model of Burnden Park as far as I’m aware.

“Until now we’ve been limited to videos, photographs and memories from those who were lucky enough to attend games at Burnden Park over the decades, until the move to the Reebok in 1997.

“Given that I’m only 25, I’d have been too young to experience Burnden in its heyday.”

Matthew has created a replica of the University of Bolton stadium previously, which was well received by the club.

One issue was cropped up while recreating the stadium was the lack of physical photos of Burnden Park he could obtain.

He said: “I was working with half the number of pictures I would normally use given that there are not many to hand.”

From 1986 onwards, Normid Superstore took up half of the embankment at Burnden Park.

Given that many Wanderers fans were opposed to the store, Matthew decided to recreate two versions of the stadium – one with the superstore and one without.

To achieve this, he used images from 1969 and 1993.

He added: “I’m well aware that my recreation will not be 100 per cent accurate. But I hope that I have managed to recreate a fitting tribute to the ground and a memorial to the hundreds who were injured - and to the 33 who died that fateful day.”