Lordswood physio George Loscombe has been hailed a hero this Saturday after a sickening collision left Crowborough Athletic keeper Ryan Burbridge unconscious on the Martyn Grove pitch.

In the build up to what proved to be the games only goal, the Crowborough keeper collided with Phil Rogers leaving both players on the deck before Joe Kane was able to walk the ball into the unguarded net.  But the home side’s joy was short lived when all realised that Burbridge was in serious trouble.

Under the guidance of physio Loscombe and another member of manager Richard Styles’ staff Kieron Scott Gooding, when he regained consciousness a few moments later, the keeper was gingerly carried off on a stretcher and taken to the Board Room as the club dialled 999.

Unbelievably they were initially told that there “could” be a delay of two hours.  That two hours came and went with the physio team trying to keep the keeper warm under various blankets on a stretcher and four hours later (after the original injury at around 4:15pm) with the ambulance still nowhere to be seen, the family and carers looked on in horror when Ryan’s eyes started rolling and his body started shaking, and with those still attending now concerned that he was on the verge of going into shock, his father took the bold and the brave to take his son directly to hospital himself.  Fortunately, Burbridge Senior drives an estate car and those still with the keeper, duly strapped him in so that he could be taken to the Accident and Emergency Department at Medway Maritime Hospital.

A furious Lordswood boss posted on Facebook that he felt the whole situation was “Disgusting and embarrassing.”  Talking to KSN, Styles added, “I cannot believe that my staff has been left to care for a player with what could have been a very serious injury on the floor of our Board room for four hours!  What must his poor Dad and girlfriend have gone through?  To leave them all standing there like that is absolutely disgusting and embarrassing!”

“I cannot praise my staff enough for what they’ve done for Ryan, as they’ve gone above and beyond anything, they should have been asked to do to help him.  Hopefully he’ll make a full recovery and we wish him well for a speedy one, but that still doesn’t explain why what happened has happened!”