HAMWORTHY Recreation boss Keith Whatling expressed his relief after learning Dom Allen had escaped serious injury following a heavy fall during their win at Blandford United on Saturday.

Whatling initially feared Allen had sustained a broken collar-bone after going to ground following an accidental collision with two defenders during the early stages of their 4-1 win over the Royals.

Allen, who had netted a stunning free-kick to give Rec the lead, was immediately taken to Poole Hospital where an X-ray revealed bad bruising but no break.

After being told Allen had been given the all-clear, Whatling joked: “Dom ended up spending the rest of Valentine’s Day in accident and emergency and I don’t think his girlfriend was too impressed!”

He added: “He landed awkwardly and it looked a bad one at the time. We were all relieved to find out there was nothing broken and he should be back in a couple of weeks.

“We’ve got a strong squad so there is no need to rush him back. We will miss him though because he has been playing well and has scored two cracking free-kicks in our past couple of games.”

Allen was replaced by Max Wilcox after Dan Manuel had doubled Rec’s lead with a well-worked team goal to put them 2-0 in front inside the opening 15 minutes.

Wilcox extended their advantage in the second half as Blandford appealed in vain for offside before Manuel completed the scoring from the penalty spot after Kieron Mulvey had reduced the arrears.

Whatling added: “We were still dominant for the rest of the first half but just didn’t play as well as we could have. We stepped it up in the second half and the only bad thing was conceding but I couldn’t really complain too much.”

Blandford boss Brad Asagba said: “Unfortunately, it was just one of those games where despite the presence of effort and character that I believe had been missing at times in recent weeks, the players never looked convinced they could win.

“That said, I thought 4-1 flattered them slightly as we restricted the number of chances they were able to create. However, from their point of view, when they scored twice inside the first 10 minutes or so, they will probably suggest it was a case of them not getting out of second gear.”

Rec: Knights, Ross, Walden, Bartlett, Sands, Stacey (Cameron, 75), Andrews, Allen (Wilcox, 18), Purdy, Manuel, Moores (Hatchard, 65). Unused subs: Falco, Willis.