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Parkgate U19 (1) 1
John Burns
Harworth Colliery U19 (0) 2
Daine McGrain, Mitchell Lax (pen)
Admission £2 inc team sheet.
On 14 minutes, John Burns made a yard of space for himself in the Harworth box, which wasn't too difficult, given that he hadn't been picked up at all and finished well from 8 yards out.
In the 26th minute, Parkgate's Liam Kavell's stray arm caught Tom Sowden squarely in the mouth.
Our manager Hasan, ran on to the pitch to aid Tom and shouted for my assistance when he got there, because 'Sowds' was concussed.
Tom was bleeding heavily and had been sick when I reached him and he was out cold briefly too.
It was fairly obvious he'd be taking no further part in the game, because his front teeth had gone through his lip and opened up a deep gash.
While I was carrying out some running repairs, it was apparent that Tom was fading in and out of consciousness and in a very confused state.
There was no other option but to get him to hospital, so I missed the remainder of the game and went there with him.
Nobody at Harworth Colliery FC would ever loose sight of the fact, that football is quite important, but the welfare of players is a much bigger priority.
I'm just glad that there were two of us there, because I've no doubt at all, that otherwise, Has would have gone to A+E with our injured player instead, which would probably have meant having to call the game off.
It looked like an accidental contact from where I was stood, I hope that is the case and I genuinely believe it was, because Under 19s football is played at a fast and furious pace, but I really shouldn't comment any further than that, other than to say that, Liam Kavell came over while I was attending to Tom and expressed his obvious concern, he is not the kind of player who goes out to seriously hurt an opposition player. He's competitive and strong, but you'd expect that from a forward.
Parkgate's manager also came across to check Tom out and offer his assistance, while I was stemming the flow of blood and trying to secure Tom's lip in place, while reassuring him that it didn't look too bad.
Which was actually a fib, because he looked in a shocking way.
So thank you that man, whoever you were.
I'm sure Tom won't want the gory details of his hospital visit and some of the 'confused' stuff he was saying splashed all over the internet, so I'll spare his blushes.
I stayed with his family when they arrived, shortly after we called them to explain the situation, until we'd ascertained that he was going to be OK and after 8 stitches in his lip, numerous check ups and some concern over his front teeth, he was discharged to go home in the early hours of the morning, some time between two and three o'clock.
Get well soon Tom.
Thanks to everybody who was bombarding us with concerned text messages at the hospital, that was really appreciated and also for the score updates.
And a particular big thanks to Daine McGrain and Mitch 'goal machine' Lax for scoring the goals that turned the game round tonight and won the three points for Harworth, Tom punched the air triumphantly when that news came through.
And of course, ta very much to Andrea Hardman for taking over the timekeeper duties.
Harworth Colliery U19s have just two games remaining this season, home to Basford United next Wednesday, 10th April (my final game in my capacity of Matchday Secretary cum odd job man for them this season) and away to Buxton the following Tuesday, 16th April.
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FFS make sure you have a fully trained first aider (at the very least) with you at all games, because you never know when it could be one of your players who needs a fast and accurate, qualified opinion.
On the night, we had two on duty (Mr Insane and Mr Weight), but I know some clubs don't take that sort of thing as seriously as we do.
