National League game suspended for an hour as player suffers horror injury from 'worst tackle ever seen'

The National League fixture between Woking and Gateshead was forced to be suspended for over an hour after Gateshead star Greg Olley suffered a horror injury.

Woking's Dion Kelly-Evans - formerly of Notts County - was shown a straight red card on 13 minutes for a badly mistimed lunge on Gateshead captain Olley.

The former Newcastle academy graduate, who is one of the National League's top stars and opened his campaign with a hat-trick against Ebbsfleet last week, was stretchered off. It was confirmed that he had suffered a broken leg.

One fan described the challenge as 'the worst I've ever seen'.

You can see the incident below.

I think that’s the worst tackle I’ve ever seen on a football pitch…🤢

Best wishes go to the player impacted as he has come out of that with a broken leg🙏 pic.twitter.com/26BpFef8Sq

— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) August 17, 2024

The game eventually resumed in the 13th minute - the time of the initial stoppage in play - at 4:15pm on Saturday afternoon.

After the restart, midfielder Kenton Richardson gave Gateshead the lead, before forward Mark Beck made it 2-0 after half-time.

But for the Heed, who are managed by former Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliot and went to the top of the National League with the victory, all their thoughts turned to their captain after the final whistle.

The club later released an official statement confirming that Olley was in a stable condition and is due to undergo surgery.

The statement reads: "Greg Olley is now in a stable condition, and will undergo surgery on Sunday morning after suffering a broken leg during today's game.

"All at Gateshead FC would like to thank both the medical staff in attendance for their professionalism in quickly dealing with the medical emergency concerning Greg, and those working at Woking FC for their care and concern in the immediate aftermath.

"We would also like to acknowledge the immense team effort from players, staff and supporters after the decision was taken for play to resume, in what has been a difficult afternoon for all associated with Gateshead FC."

The news is the latest hammer blow to all connected with Gateshead, after they were denied a spot in the National League play-offs last season as they failed to meet the required criteria for future EFL membership.

The Heed were unable to secure a '10-year security of tenure' at the International Stadium, which is owned by Gateshead Council.

The club and council had put forward options to the EFL in order to solve this dispute, but an appeal over the verdict was dismissed and Gateshead were consigned to another season of National League football.

The verdict halted a steep rise for the club in the five years since they were relegated from the National League for financial irregularities in May 2019.

After a fan-led consortium bought the club from the previous much-maligned ownership, ex-Newcastle defender Mike Williamson guided them into the National League and into the play-off places last term before leaving for MK Dons.