• 4 months ago
The 'worst tackle' some fans have ever seen resulted in a player being rushed to hospital with a broken leg and left a National League match suspended on Saturday.

Supporters want Woking’s Dion Kelly-Evans to be barred for life after his sickening slide tackle left Gateshead's Greg Olley crumpled on the turf.

Kelly-Evans was shown a red card and ambulances were called onto the pitch with players clashing and fearing for Olley's health less than 15 minutes into the match.

Gateshead later confirmed Olley was in a 'stable condition' and revealed plans for surgery on Sunday, having won 2-0 once play was resumed after 40 minutes.

Kelly-Evans should never step foot on a pitch again. No sympathy towards Olley whatsoever' wrote one fan on X, formerly Twitter.

The full incident from Greg's injury.

Kelly-Evans should never step foot on a pitch again. No sympathy toward Olley whatsoever.

'That’s the worst tackle I have ever seen,' said one.

'Mate that’s horrific. 100% need to enforce longer bans for tackles like this,' another commented.

'Absolute scumbag. Thoughts with Greg and the Gateshead boys tonight,' one said.

'Horrific challenge, and at worst he’ll only get a 4-5 game ban,' speculated another fan. A straight red card leads to an automatic three-match ban but players can punished for longer.

One fan had a more sympathetic view towards Kelly-Evans, writing: 'Personally gutted for Olley but I think it was just unlucky that his leg was planted! Yes poor challenge but don't think the kid meant to do any damage! Hope Olley is back in no time & back to his best!! Speedy recovery mate!'

'I appreciate Gateshead fans are not happy with Kelly Evans and it was a bad bad tackle but the lad is a good guy and I know he will be upset,' another said.

Fans gave Olley a standing ovation after he received the injury.

Multiple Gateshead players started rowing with Kelly-Evans and pushing him around as their team-mate lay on the grass and received medical attention.

A message passed on to local reporter Mark Carruthers from Olley's dad said he was in 'good spirits' and 'thankful' for the messages being sent his way.

Kenton Richardson and Mark Benk scored to ensure Gateshead came away with three points and went top of the National League with two wins in two.

'We're into unknown territory here with everything, so we just have to get around Greg to make sure he's OK and give him the best support,' said manager and former Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliott after the game.

'I'm gutted and devastated because there's no need for it to be in that situation.

'We just have to make sure we're there for Greggy, support him, and take it from there.'

Olley, 28, is Gateshead's club captain and last season lifted the FA Trophy as well as helping them to the National League play-offs. He has been with the club since 2018, having signed from Hull.

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Transcript
00:00The worst tackle some fans have ever seen resulted in a player being rushed to hospital
00:09with a broken leg and left a National League match suspended on Saturday.
00:14Supporters want Woking's Dion Kelly-Evans to be barred for life after his sickening
00:17slide tackle left Gateshead's Greg Ali crumpled on the turf.
00:21Kelly-Evans was shown a red card and ambulances were called onto the pitch with players clashing
00:25and fearing for Ali's health less than 15 minutes into the match.
00:29Gateshead later confirmed Ali was in a stable condition and revealed plans for surgery on
00:34Sunday, having won 2-0 once play was resumed after 40 minutes.
00:39Kelly-Evans should never step foot on a pitch again.
00:41"'No sympathy towards Ali whatsoever' wrote one fan on ex, formerly Twitter.
00:47The full incident from Greg's injury.
00:50Kelly-Evans should never step foot on a pitch again.
00:53No sympathy toward Ali whatsoever.
00:57That's the worst tackle I have ever seen," said one.
01:00"'Mate that's horrific.'
01:01100% need to enforce longer bans for tackles like this," another commented.
01:07"'Absolute scumbag.'
01:10Thoughts with Greg and the Gateshead boys tonight," one said.
01:13"'Horrific challenge, and at worst he'll only get a 4-5 game ban,' speculated another
01:18fan.
01:20One fan had a more sympathetic view towards Kelly-Evans, writing, "'Personally gutted
01:24for Ali but I think it was just unlucky that his leg was planted.
01:28Yes poor challenge but don't think the kid meant to do any damage.
01:32Hope Ali is back in no time and back to his best.
01:36Speedy recovery mate.
01:38I appreciate Gateshead fans are not happy with Kelly-Evans and it was a bad bad tackle
01:42but the lad is a good guy and I know he will be upset,' another said.

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