Football is now “on the backburner” for Paddy Almond, admits Darlington manager Alun Armstrong, after the defender suffered a serious head injury at the weekend.

In his first start for the club on Saturday, a defeat to Southend United in the FA Trophy, Almond had to be substituted and spent Saturday night in hospital in London.

He remains at the Royal London Hospital, at the time of writing, though it is now hoped surgery will not be required.

Armstrong signed Almond on December 13, with the 20-year-old defender, released by Sunderland last year, returning to the game having been involved in a car accident in June.

He recovered from a bleed on the brain after the car accident and began training with Darlington in November.

Armstrong has been in regular contact with Almond since Saturday, and revealed: “He’s worried a lot about football and that’s understandable, but all that matters now is his health. That’s what I said to him, ‘football goes on the backburner now, son’.

“His parents travelled down from Morpeth first thing on Sunday morning, and obviously they’ve been through this before with him. It must be horrible for them.

“I was panicking and worried for the him after what he’s already been through. Obviously I’ve got kids myself and it makes you think. I’ve seen players have concussions and head injuries, but not something like this.

“I couldn’t even concentrate on the last half an hour of the game after he was subbed. I was sending some of the subs into the changing room to find out how he was doing. Someone said he was getting better, but I said we had to get an ambulance for him, there was no way he was coming back on the bus.

“I will say a massive thanks to the Southend medical staff, they were a great help.”

After Darlington lost the fixture 2-1, the team coach went to Southend General Hospital where Almond was accompanied by club physiotherapist Danny O’Connor.

Almond was then transferred the Royal London around midnight, with O’Connor again alongside him, and he underwent a second brain scan while surgery was initially anticipated.

“The bus went to the hospital until we knew what was going to happen,” explained Armstrong. “We didn’t get back to Darlington until about 1am.

“I kept in contact with him until about 2am trying to keep his spirits up. He’s a good kid. We were all worried sick for him on the way home.

“Paddy wasn’t in a good way and Danny was worried. Danny was sending me updates and they weren’t great at some points to be honest. It was harrowing.

“But luckily enough we were able to get him to the right place. Thank God we were so close to a hospital that could deal with the situation.”

The incident that caused Almond to be substituted went unnoticed by most supporters at Roots Hall, but Armstrong had suspected something was wrong minutes before the defender went to ground.

He explained: “The Southend goalkeeper kicked it high and Paddy got a good header on it but it was on top of his head and he wobbled a bit. I was next to the fourth official and I told him the history, about Paddy having a bleed on the brain after the car crash, so I said I want Danny on to check Paddy next time the ball goes out.

“But the ball stayed in play for ages. When the ball eventually went dead the ref asks Paddy if he’s okay, and Paddy says he’s fine. I’m shouting ‘are you okay?’, and he’s saying he’s fine, he wants to play on.

“Five minutes later he goes down and he’s vomiting. Apparently he’s saying that he felt someone fall on him and bang the back of his head, but on the footage there’s no contact.

“I think that must’ve been when something happened with his brain, as he fell to floor vomiting.”

Prior to Saturday, Almond had made three substitute appearances for Quakers and had not looked out of place in defence, and was handed his first start against National League Southend as Jake Lawlor was ill.

Armstrong added: “I tried to bring him in on loan last season from Sunderland, but he went to Blyth. I think being based in Morpeth was a factor for him.

“He played against us at Blackwell and he did well, a good, solid defender. So I told his agent to keep me informed, and then Sunderland let him go, but then he had the car crash.

“He’s been training with us since the middle of November, and it was our idea to get him up to speed with some games at Shildon, but after he signed for them they had a lot of matches postponed, so he only played twice.

“He’s come off the bench a couple of times for us, but on Saturday we didn’t have Jake, so this was a massive opportunity for Paddy to play against a good side and we’d see what the kid’s like, and he was doing smashing for us.

“But now it’s been overshadowed. It’s sickening.”