2 years ago
32
ARTICLE AD BOX
Stockport County right-back Macauley Southam-Hales was "very lucky" not to be seriously injured after colliding with an advertising hoarding during their FA Cup replay win over Charlton Athletic, says boss Dave Challinor.
The 26-year-old appeared to be nudged by Charlton's George Dobson and was taken to hospital following the incident.
It comes a month after Bath City's Alex Fletcher underwent brain surgery after also colliding with a hoarding.
"He's got a whopper of an egg on the back of his head," Challinor told BBC Radio Manchester.
"In the grand scheme of things, if he has a clear bill of health, he's very, very lucky. If you look at it from a football perspective, as much as people might not mean certain things or meaning to hurt anybody, if that's not endangering an opponent, I'm not sure what is.
"Regardless, it should be a sending off. He's probably an inch away from potentially a fractured skull."
Fletcher spent nearly a month in hospital, and had been in intensive care, with his injury forcing Bath's National League South game against Dulwich Hamlet to be abandoned.
Challinor said: "We've had the ultimate learning experience from a player who's ended up in intensive care and has had to have an operation on his brain.
"The lump on the back of his (Southam-Hales) neck is scary. When people watch that video clip back it's not very good viewing. He's really fortunate if he comes out completely unscathed. We hope he does."
English (US) ·