Peterhead co-manager Jordon Brown was thankful David Wilson’s neck injury was not as bad as first feared after the defender was stretchered off and taken to hospital during their 2-1 Balmoor defeat to Forfar.
Play was stopped for 25 minutes in the first half of the League Two clash after Wilson collided with teammate and goalkeeper Stuart McKenzie, who had come out of his goal to make a clearance.
Wilson lay on the pitch as the club’s doctor, physio and then paramedics went to his aid, before he was taken to hospital by ambulance.
Brown said: “David had an x-ray at the hospital.
“It was a really sore one, not nice for anyone – especially for David, obviously.
“The good news was he was talking at the time, but he could not move his neck.
“He went away in the ambulance and his dad was with him. Our physio Donal (Gallagher) and all the people with him on the pitch were excellent.
“Thankfully nothing is broken, there is ligament and muscle damage.
“He was back on his phone on Saturday night and communicating with the guys.
“We will see how it settles and we will have to follow some protocols over the next couple of weeks.”
Player-boss Brown, who would later come on as a substitute, was in the dugout at the time of the incident, and added: “It was concerning.
“I had a line on it from where I was standing and you could see his neck and the way it landed.
“It was an innocuous incident as Stuart has come through and cleared the ball.”
Seb Ross double had Peterhead chasing game
Prior to Wilson’s nasty clash in the 19th minute, Peterhead trailed 1-0 and they fell further behind when both sets of players reappeared from their dressing rooms following the lengthy stoppage.
Former Aberdeen youngster Seb Ross had scored the opener on 13 minutes with a neat finish, and repeated the trick in the eighth minute of added on time in the first half.
Yet Peterhead could still have been level at the interval as Jack Brown immediately pulled a goal back with a rising 12-yard shot, before Conor O’Keefe struck the crossbar with a delightful chip.
The second half belonged to Peterhead, especially when Forfar’s Roberto Nditi was sent off in the 69th minute – the Africa Cup of Nations-bound Tanzania international picking up two yellow cards in quick succession.
Joe McKee went close with a couple of efforts for the Blue Toon, and Kieran Shanks saw a header saved, while Brown had the ball in the net but was adjudged to be offside as Forfar claimed a surprise win.
Danny Strachan relaxed despite Stenny opening eight-point gap on Blue Toon
With leaders Stenhousemuir opening up an eight-point gap on the Peterhead courtesy of their victory over Elgin, full-back Danny Strachan admitted it was a bad day all round.
Strachan said: “It’s a disappointing one for us.
“We were far from our best and if you look at the two goals we conceded, they were really preventable.
“When you go two goals down, you give yourself an uphill task especially against a team like that who will sit in and make it difficult for you.”
Strachan added: “We have just got to keep plugging away, be more solid at the back and concede less goals.
“We are not even halfway through the season, and if we win our game in hand, then we can close the gap to five points.”
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