A football physio has been praised after helping a rival player who was badly injured during an Ayrshire amateur match on Saturday.
Stewarton United sponge man Chris Hamilton rushed to assist Dirrans Athletic goalkeeper Ross Stewart after an accidental collision with an opponent left the player lying prone on the turf in agony.
Stewart suffered a broke upper arm and dislocated shoulder and the league game at Kilwinning Sports Club was abandoned after just 25 minutes because of the incident.
Big-hearted Chris administered first aid alongside Dirrans counterpart Gary Porter and stayed by the player's side for a further 90 minutes until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.
Dirrans chiefs hailed Chris for going 'well beyond his duty' in a heartfelt social media post on Saturday night before Stewart, who is now recovering at home, issued a personal thank you to the physio for his intervention.
Reliving his ordeal, Stewart, 39, told Ayrshire Football News: "I just remember coming to collect a cross - probably for the first time in my career - and colliding with someone.
"It was an innocuous challenge to be honest but It knocked me off balance and I flipped over and landed on my arm.
"Something snapped and I couldn't move - I was lying prone. Our manager Jason Stewart and Gary ran on to the park, the players ran over, and the Stewarton physio was straight on to help.
"He was absolutely brilliant with me. He stayed by my side, calmed me down and just reassured me. He made sure my breathing was okay, and generally tried to make me as a warm and comfortable as possible until the ambulance came.
"It was a long time to be lying there so it says a lot that someone from the opposition would do that - I have to say a massive thank you to him."
In a ironic twist of fate the ambulance technician who arrived on the scene is a former student of Ayrshire College lecturer Stewart.
"It was one of those crazy days," the goalkeeper joked.
He now faces up to four months on the sidelines but hopes to be back in action before the end of the season.
"It's not great because we've been going well in the league and there's big games coming up in the cup," added Stewart who is in his 10th year with Dirrans.
"It's my first bad injury in 39 years so it won't be easy sitting on the sidelines.
"Fingers crossed it's a speedy recovery and I'll be back punching crosses soon.
"That's the first and last time I'll ever try to catch one that's for sure!"
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