Albury United goalkeeper Jason Berkhout spends a night in hospital after being knocked out against Myrtleford

Greens goalkeeper Jason Berkhout was knocked unconscious when he slid out to challenge an onrushing Myrtleford player for a loose ball.

"He was gone straight away," Campbell said. "You see footy players on the telly where they rock back and their eyes are closed and their body goes stiff.

"It was touch-and-go for the first four or five minutes. I was worried for Jase.

"Our trainer was looking after him and I was trying to contact Jason's wife, back here in Albury, who was looking after their kids. She probably would have been worried when she got a message from me.

"She immediately rang me, midway through the second half, so I'm standing there trying to coach and talking to her. When Jason came around, I gave my phone to one of the guys on the bench, who walked it around to Jason so she could actually talk to him.

"The ambulance came pretty quickly and just as the game finished, the whole team was able to walk over and check on him before they took him.

"He spent the night in hospital and had scans on his head. He only got home to his house on Monday afternoon.

"He sent me a message and he has no recollection of the event. It was a pretty bad one."

United went on to win 6-1, a result which took them top of the Albury-Wodonga Football Association.

"It all happened very quickly but I'm really proud of our trainers and some of the other support people around the club who were able to look after him for that 40 minutes while they were waiting for the ambulance," Campbell said.

"A lot of those times, you hope the forward pulls out but I'm certainly not suggesting there was anything malicious. It was just of those things that happens. It was just two guys going fast at the path of the ball and Jase has copped a knock."

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Meanwhile, captain Kris Wheeler has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a hand injury.

"Kris broke his hand in a practice match a couple of weeks before the season," Campbell said. "He had it set in plaster but when he got it out after five or six weeks, it still wasn't right.

"He played two or three games, was still having a lot of pain and he's fallen on it a few times.

"He went to get it re-assessed and they confirmed it's either re-broken or hasn't healed properly so he's going to need surgery to put a plate or pins in.

"That's a six-month injury and rehab from that so he's gone for the year."

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