A FOOTBALLER with a badly broken leg had to endure an hour-and-a-half wait in agony for an ambulance.

Sylvester Yeboah had come on as an 89th-minute substitute for Bacup Borough when he suffered the injury as he shot on goal.

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The club said the crack from his leg breaking could be heard around the Brian Boys West View Stadium.

Yesterday the North West Ambulance Service said it had been dealing with a stream of serious 999 calls at the time Mr Yeboah was injured.

They added that a volunteer first responder had attended and an ambulance was dispatched as soon as one became available.

Manager Brent Peters said: “It was an absolute joke. We rang for an ambulance at ten to five and it pulled into the ground at 6.20pm.

“What happened before that was a first aider Dawn Taylor, who was only a volunteer, arrived. She was brilliant.

“But when I came out of the changing rooms after the game I couldn’t believe he was still there.

“I got on the phone and had a go at the control room but I don’t blame the ambulance staff.

“The responder then ran out of gas and air. The poor lad was laying there for half an hour or longer with no gas and air.

“I don’t want to get involved in politics but something needs sorting with the National Health Service.

“It was made worse because we got him on a stretcher and got him nearer to the gate to make it easier for the ambulance when it arrived, but people were getting agitated one hadn’t arrived.

“We put him on the grassed area in front of the clubhouse and people were starting to get irate because it was taking so long.”

The match on Saturday was the first league game the 27-year-old, from Manchester, had played for the club.

A spokesman for the ambulance service said: “The trust would like to offer its sincere apologies to the patient for any distress caused whilst waiting for an ambulance.

“All of our 999 calls are prioritised based on the information given by the caller and those patients with an immediate threat to life are dealt with as a priority.

“Unfortunately, at the time of this incident there were a number of life-threatening emergencies in the area including two cases of people not breathing and a suspected stroke.

“However, a Community First Responder (CFR) from the Trust was dispatched to the patient and arrived within 20 minutes of the call to administer first aid and pain relief.

“Once it was established that this patient’s condition was deteriorating the call was given a higher priority and an ambulance was dispatched as soon as it became available.”