Thousands of fans united on the terraces to pay tribute to the life of a courageous little girl.

White Hart Lane rang out with applause on the ninth minute of Tottenham Hotspur’s home match against Leicester City on Saturday.

The celebration was to mark the passing of Stacey Mowle, nine, of Trafalgar Road, Gravesend, who lost her five-year battle with cancer only weeks ago.

The Mowle family are big football fans and Stacey’s dad Warren is a dedicated Spurs supporter.

Prior to the match the Stacey Mowle Appeal, a charity set up to raise money for treatment of the youngster, was pushing their campaigners to promote the event.

Support also came from Leicester City defender and Stacey Mowle Appeal patron Paul Konchesky.

Ebbsfleet Utd had also commemorated Stacey’s life with a minute’s applause before their match against Maidenhead on Saturday March 15.

Like the tribute at the Fleet’s Stonebridge Road stadium, the moment was marked with dignity and respect in North London.

Tottenham's official Twitter account event posted about the commemoration during its live-tweeting of the match.

Stacey Mowle Appeal and Spurs supporter Sarah Knight went to the clash and was moved by the occasion.

She said: “Being a huge Tottenham fan I am no stranger to emotion at a game, lately every time I’ve been to the Lane I have come away completely deflated after watching my team lose.

“But on Saturday I was nervous for a different reason, Stacey’s Dad, Warren, had told me about the planned applause and so I decided to join in wholeheartedly.

“I had Stacey and the number nine written on the back of my beloved Spurs shirt and the Stacey Mowle appeal logo on the front.

“There had been loads of stuff about the ninth minute applause on Twitter and Facebook so I hoped that people would help us to remember her, but Wow - I didn’t expect the amazing reaction from the spurs fans.”

Spurs went away with three points after the final whistle on Saturday, but the game was by no means a walk in the park. Leicester showed why many will be sad to see them go down if they lose their battle with relegation.

Sarah, who runs SJKnight Photography, said despite the rapturous scenes caused by Harry Kane’s early goal, the atmosphere changed at nine minutes gone.

She said: ”When the clock turned over to 3:09pm I stood up along with the rest of my party and began to clap.

“At first there were a few other people joining in and then a silence fell over the ground apart from the sound of a resounding applause.

“Of course I had a little cry and remembered my beautiful little pal. I thought of her family and how awful it must be for them to lose their own princess and I remembered all of the lovely memories.

“It was a great tribute to a fantastic little girl who will always hold a place in my heart.”

For information on the Stacey Mowle Appeal log on to www.thestaceymowleappeal.co.uk