Wales manager Robert Page has defended the decision to let Nottingham Forest wing-back Neco Williams play on after suffering a head injury against England.
Williams stooped to block a long-range shot from Marcus Rashford in the first half, with the powerful strike hitting him on the top of the head. The Forest man, who joined from Liverpool in the summer transfer window, immediately went down and play was halted.
After being briefly assessed on the pitch, Williams carried on for another 12 minutes before flagging that he needed further attention. He was then substituted. Brain injury charity Headway criticised the handling of the incident, saying “yet again medics are giving no options” while calling for the introduction of a temporary concussion rule.
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Speaking about the incident after the match, Wales manager Page said: "Neco took a blow to the head, so there are protocols in place understandably with concussion. He passed the initial test.
"We followed the FIFA guidelines. The FIFA doctor OK’d him to stay on the pitch, but he was advised if there was any symptoms then to flag it up straight away, and that’s what he did.
"There was no second thoughts at all, he was off straightaway. We’ve covered all the protocols and the FIFA guidelines."
Headway, however, responded to the incident by tweeting: "YET AGAIN medics are given no options! A temporary concussion rule would have not resulted in Nico (sic) Williams being left on the pitch after #concussion. How many more?!"
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