Positive news on John Fleck after Chesterfield midfielder collapses in warm-up before Doncaster Rovers match
John Fleck ‘seems to be okay’ after being taken to hospital before Chesterfield’s win against Doncaster Rovers.
The midfielder, who was named on the bench, fell to the floor during the warm-up and required medical attention before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital. Kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes. Thankfully, the early news is positive.
Assistant manager Danny Webb said: “He had a fit of some sort. The last we saw of him he was on a stretcher leaving, conscious, speaking and with a smile on his face. We will know more tomorrow. He is in good hands. Fingers crossed he seems to be okay.
“There was a period with John on the floor in the warm-up and football goes out of your mind. Our dressing room was a very quiet place before kick-off. Us as staff tried to lift the boys and let them know that John seemed to be okay when he left. They were flat because he is a team-mate and they care about him. They went out there and got the three points for John.”
On what it was like in the minutes before kick-off, Webb told the DT: “It was difficult because you don’t want to sort of paper over it. We thought about getting the lads back to do another mini warm-up but we decided to talk to them and let them gather their thoughts. It was such a relief to see John conscious and talking when he left. His family went with him to the hospital.
“It was hard but the lads didn’t start the game like it so fair play to the players for getting over that distressing period. It was not a nice thing to go through.”
Chesterfield put that incident to the back of their minds as they ran-out 5-2 winners, with two goals from Bim Pepple and strikes from Dylan Duffy, Michael Olakigbe and Ollie Banks.
Webb continued: “It was great to score five goals against a local rival who are second in the league and a really good team. They will definitely be up there regardless of this result. Every time we attacked we looked like we were going to score. We are just a bit disappointed that we went a bit sloppy in the last 10 minutes.”
The Spireites led 2-0 but Rovers pulled one back before half-time but the hosts did not allow them to gain any momentum as they went 4-1 up before there was a goal at each end late on.
Webb added: “The message to the lads at the break was that they (Doncaster) would come out believing that they could get an early goal so we knew we had to start the second-half really brightly and show them that we weren’t going to lay down and the boys showed no nervousness.”