A teenager who died in a motorcycle accident was bid farewell at a service attended by one of his favourite footballers.

Brighton and Hove Albion player Charlie Oatway was among more than 100 mourners who gathered to pay tribute to 17-year-old Steven Robinson at Downs Crematorium in Brighton yesterday.

The footballer stood at the back of the packed chapel and heard how Steven, who was killed when his motorcycle hit a signpost on a slip road off the A27 at Holmbush on bank holiday Monday, loved going to watch the games with his father.

Steven's loyalty to the club was expressed by his coffin draped with a Brighton and Hove Albion flag and by a football made from white flowers resting on a bed of leaves.

A lilac wreath was accompanied by the words: "With deepest sympathy from the directors, staff and players of Brighton and Hove Albion." At one point Charlie Oatway chatted to Steven's younger brothers Gary, 11, and Terry, seven.

Steven, of Highview, Sompting, was dressed in his favourite Brighton and Hove Albion kit.

Friends and family wept and comforted one another as they listened to Wonderwall and Stand By Me by his favourite band Oasis.

They heard how he had a passion for football and the 125cc bike he had been riding since his 17th birthday in May.

His parents, Chris and Carol Robinson, choked back tears as their son, an apprentice engineer at HPC in Burgess Hill, was described as a popular teenager standing on the edge of manhood.

Mr Robinson, a welder, expressed his sorrow at the untimely loss. He said: "We were more than father and son, we were good mates."

He thanked footballer Charlie Oatway and Steven's friends for their support.

Sister Zoe, 15, paid tribute to a loyal brother who despite his tender age "managed to fulfil many of his dreams" and had everything to live for.

Pausing momentarily to gather her emotions and wipe away tears, she continued: "He would always defend his family and close friends.

"He was like a bodyguard to us and now he is our guardian angel."

In a non-religious service, funeral officiant Ann Mitchell described a generous, caring young man with a zest for life.

She said: "The significance of his very short life is by no means dead.

"As you struggle now with the sharp pain of parting from Steven, we remember his 17 short years, but they were good years."

The congregation left the chapel to the Puff Daddy song I'll Be Missing You.

Friends from both Crawley Technical College, where Steven had just completed the first year of a four-year City and Guilds course, and Boundstone Community College, Lancing, where he did his GCSEs, sobbed as they said their final farewells.

Mourners gathered to read the mostly Albion-inspired floral tributes which included a miniature football pitch surrounded by blue and white flowers and a giant seagull on a bed of blue blossom.

Steven's brother Gary wrote: "I will miss you all of the time."

Steven's ashes will be scattered over Brighton and Hove Albion's pitch at Withdean Stadium in Brighton on Sunday.