A FRIGHTENING injury to Keanu Cooper marred AFC Ludlow’s pre-season friendly with Enville Athletic.

The match had to be abandoned after 70 minutes with fears that the attacking midfielder had suffered a serious neck or back injury.

Cooper fell awkwardly in a high challenge against an Enville player and was on the floor for 40 minutes receiving treatment before being taken to Hereford County Hospital in an ambulance on a back board and with a neck brace fitted.

Thankfully the injury was not as bad as first feared and Cooper was allowed home later that evening, but he was feeling very sore on Sunday.

Boss Dave Cooper, the player’s father, admitted: “It was a real worry though I think I was probably more concerned than Keanu himself.

"He came down from such a height and was complaining of pins and needles.

"We feared he might have broken his neck - it was a horrible moment.”

The incident prompted some unsavoury banter between the two teams and it was decided to abandon the game as a 3-3 draw.

New signing Danny Crowther had given Ludlow the lead, but they trailed 2-1 at the break and had also lost Aaron Hodge with a back injury.

A brace of goals from young substitute Ryan Lewis made it 3-2 but Enville capitalised on a second error from goalkeeper Ian Havard to level before the Cooper incident brought the game to a premature halt.

Hodge, who has committed himself to Ludlow after spending most of last season with Kington Town, had scored twice from centre-half in last Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Dudley Town, a performance Cooper described as “absolutely fantastic.”

Marion Jusko also netted twice and Cooper said: “We had 19 lads take part and I made eight changes at half-time.

"They hit the bar with a snap shot but apart from that we dominated and our fitness in the second half was far superior.”

His joy was tempered by Saturday’s lacklustre performance against Enville, something assistant manager Tim Moriarty labelled as “an unacceptable Jekyll and Hyde display.”

Ludlow, who beat Madeley 9-0 at the Ludlow Football Stadium on Tuesday night, complete their pre-season countdown with a home game with Highley this Saturday (2.30pm) before visiting Clee Hill United next Tuesday night. Cooper says the team he will field at Clee Hill will hopefully be the starting eleven for their first league match.