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"I didn't know why I was running on"

Posted on: Fri 17 Apr 2009

I'm hoping to have a quiet afternoon today after all the media attention we had at Ninian Park last Sunday. And I certainly hope I don't have to treat any officials!

For those of you that missed it, I found myself the centre of attention at Cardiff after rushing on to treat referee Mike Dean just before half-time when he was hit on the head by a pound coin thrown by a so-called Cardiff City fan.

Our skipper Garry Monk was first on the scene and, to be honest, I thought he had called me on to treat Jordi Gomez who had been brought crashing down by Michael Chopra.

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By the time I had stepped on to the pitch, Jordi had got up and was walking away, but Garry was still calling me on. I didn't know why I was still running on.

Then I could see the referee doubled up and I realised he was the one injured.

When I got to him he was irate, in shock and dazed. But once I calmed him down, I was able to clean the blood up and treat the head injury.

Thankfully it was just before half-time, so he had more time to recover during the interval. The Cardiff doctor assessed him at the break, so I really don't know if he was fit enough to carry on.

The fourth official thanked me just after half-time; I just wish I'd picked up all the coins on the pitch when I was out there treating the ref. I would be a rich man now!

While the incident hit all the headlines, it's not the first time something like this has happened to be.

If you remember, I had to treat the linesman a few seasons ago for the same thing when he was hit by a coin thrown by a Newport County fan in our FAW Premier Cup tie at Spytty Park.

I'll have to double check if this extra curricula treatment is in my contract!

Back to my routine treatment schedule and we are hoping that Angel Rangel will have recovered from the Achilles injury that forced him off in the second half against Cardiff.

Angel has been having trouble with his heel for the last three weeks. It is very difficult to treat and the best cure is rest.

But with the games coming thick and fast, that's pretty much impossible, so we've just got to try and get him through the rest of the season before he can put his feet up over the summer back home in sunny Spain.

Matty Collins picked up a thigh strain in training this week, but should be fine for today's game, while long termers Marcos Painter and Ferrie Bodde continue to make progress from their cruciate knee ligament operations.

After today's game it's a quick turnaround for our game at Barnsley on Monday, so it's important we put in a good recovery day tomorrow before heading north.

Angel Rangel
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