A sickening head clash halted play in today's Chatham Cup football match between Queenstown Rovers and Roslyn-Wakari FC at Ellis Park.
At approximately 3.20pm, 20 minutes into the second half of the game, two players competing for the ball heavily clashed heads before hitting the ground.
Though Queenstown player Elliott Gardner got to his feet quickly after the incident, Roslyn-Wakari player Tom Bealin remained on the ground and was seen to be convulsing as supporters rushed to his side.
Bealin remained conscious and covered in blankets as onlookers waited for ambulances staff to arrive.
Once tended to by St. John staff, the player was able to get up and walk to the waiting ambulance with assistance.
The sight of Bealin walking off the field was a very pleasing one for Roslyn-Wakari coach Colin Thom.
‘’He is alright and that is the main thing.’’
‘’At the end of the day football doesn’t matter to much, its more about the welfare of our players.’’
The match, which was the closest fought of contests, resumed shortly after the Bealin left the field following a 25 minute break in play.
Before that, both teams had fought out an intense first half where neither offence could get through the opposing defence.
In the second half, through some good Queenstown Rovers link play Carlos Hermann scored what would be the only goal of the match.
Though Roslyn-Wakari fought bravely to try to equalise they could not find the back of the net and Queenstown Rovers ran out 1-nil winners to progress to the next round of the Chatham Cup competition.
