Defender suffers serious injury in heavy defeat

Clipstone Welfare manager Ian Cotton and his assistant, Michael Wain. Photo: Andy Sumner

Paling was treated by paramedics on the pitch before being taken by ambulance to hospital, where it was later confirmed that he had broken his tibia and fibula.

Cotton said: “The injury is at the forefront of our mind and how he recovers from that.

“It was fair tackle, a50-50 challenge. There was no malice in it.

“It is not good for us as he is one of our better players.

“Our thoughts are with him at the moment.”

Paling was injured late on in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division match after Clipstone staged something of a fightback in the second half following a mauling in the first period.

Clipstone conceded three goals in the first 16 minutes and trailed 4-0 at half-time.

Cotton said: “The first half was embarrassing. We had strong words at half-time.

“It was not the football, it was the desire and commitment of the players.

“It wasn’t there and I am honest enough to say I don’t know why.

“In the second half, for half an hour until Rob’s injury we were the better side. We raised our game and competed.

“Jermain (Jatau) who came on had two clear chances and he is probably gutted he hasn’t scored.

“The positives are that half-hour in the second half, but it doesn’t take away how bad we were in the first half.”

Clipstone, reduced to 10 men by Paling’s injury, conceded two further late goals.

Cotton said debutant keeper Jason Alexander was not to blame for the heavy defeat.

“He had a good game and his all-round keeping was good on the day,” he added.

The manager said it was also a horrible game for fellow debutant Jack Hutchinson, a midfielder, to make his first start for the club.

Joe Harris hit the bar with a 20-yard shot just before half-time, but it was a rare threatening moment from the Cobras in the opening 45 minutes.

Cotton made two changes at half-time with Jatau and Fenn Radford coming on.

The changes, together with a more positive attitude, saw the visitors create several chances in the second period.

Jatau came close to grabbing a goal back on two occasions after neat inter-play with Gareth Curtis.

Clipstone were due to host Liversedge last night