Melksham Town's match at Paulton on Monday night was delayed by almost 45 minutes after Tim Waylen suffered a badly broken leg.

The second half was only minutes old when Waylen was left in agony on the ground after a 50-50 challenge with Paulton's Steve Sandell.

The Melksham midfielder was covered with a blanket while everyone waited for an ambulance.

After a 21-minute wait the ambulance appeared on the scene although it was another ten minutes before they felt they could safely move him from the pitch.

Waylen was taken to the Royal United Hospital, Bath where it was found he had broken both his fibula and tibia.

A spokesman for the amublance service said the delay was as result of the high number of calls at the time and because Waylen was conscious they had to prioritise their calls.

The game restarted at about 9.15pm although Nigel Tripp expressed his surprise at the decision not to abandon it. The Melksham manager said: "I thought the match would have been abandoned but the referee informed me that FA rules state it would have to continue.

"It was hard for the lads to continue after that and I don't think anyone could really focus."

Twenty-six-year-old Waylen had signed for Melksham this summer after playing for Trowbridge in the Wiltshire League last season.

This was only his second Western League appearance after making his debut in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Bishop Sutton and Tripp admits his injury is a massive blow.

He said: "First your thoughts have to go out to Tim as he will be out of football for a quite a while. The team will also miss him as he was playing well in our midfield. I just wish him the best and hope he recovers quickly.

"It's times like this that make you wonder why you play football."

The match finished 3-2 to Paulton.