“I gave the handball off and collided with (Lavington player) Nick Meredith, who was just stopping my run,” Clay Moscher-Thomas said.

“’Penda’ was just running past and he got in the way of my fall I guess and had his foot planted, it was really unlucky for him.”

The 35-year-old fractured both bones in his lower right leg, the fibula and tibia, and Moscher-Thomas says everyone nearby knew something was horribly wrong.

VIDEO: Vision of Matt Pendergast's injury. View from 02:39:12.

“I heard the snap, it was as clear as day and you could see straight away (it was bad),” he said.

The injury occurred at 2.19pm at Lavington Sportsground with the ambulance arriving 18 minutes later.

All up, it was 63 minutes from the incident to the ambulance departing for Albury hospital as the medical staff worked hard to stabilise Pendergast.

“A big thank you to the kids from North Albury, they really did a terrific job,” Lavington president Peter Barwick said.

“Noah was the water boy and he just held his head.”

Despite the situation, Pendergast’s positive nature shone through as the pain relief medication kicked in.

“He was disappointed he couldn’t get up on the deck later for ladies day,” Barwick laughed.