THE injury that forced the abandonment of Winchester City’s game at Mangotsfield United in the Southern One South & West yesterday was not quite as bad as first feared.

City's 18-year-old full-back Joe Hayward suffered a broken leg, but manager Ian Saunders was pleased to report today that he should not be out for too long.

“Joe’s broken his fibula and got some soft tissue damage, but it sounds worse than it is. The fibula is not the weight-bearing bone, so it will heal quickly,” he said.

“If it had been the tibia it would have taken longer, but we might have him back before Christmas.”

Nevertheless, Saunders admitted it was a hard day all round.

“It’s particularly stressful when something like that happens away from home,” he said. “There’s always that question of how do we get the player back.

“But a club official went with him to hospital in Bristol and we got in touch with Joe's family.

“It was quite distressing to see the lad wrapped in foil in the middle of the pitch. I’m from an era when you would stretcher the player off to keep him warm, but you’re not allowed to move them these days.

“We all wish the kid well and hopefully it will be a quick recovery for him.”

The events of the game paled into insignificance alongside young Hayward’s injury, but Saunders was still unhappy to have conceded a sixth-minute Lewis Powell goal which gave the Mangos a 1-0 advantage.

“If you allow Powell – a player who’s scored stacks of goals – a free header inside the six-yard box, he’s going to punish you,” he said.

“But we were always threatening and how we went in 1-0 down (at half-time) is beyond me.

"We had a couple of good early chances in the second half and, during the period when young Joe was waiting for the ambulance, we were confident that, had the game continued, we would have come out rocking and rolling and got back into it.”

To add insult to injury for City, defender Jamie Ford, ruled out by a one-match suspension yesterday, must now serve it next weekend instead. It means him missing the big FA Trophy tie at home to Dulwich Hamlet.