Nottingham Forest defender Neco Williams was taken to hospital after a nasty head collision as his side climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone.
Former Liverpool youngster Williams collided with teammate Brennan Johnson during the second half of the win over Brighton and received lengthy treatment on the City Ground pitch.
He was then taken off on a stretcher with the scores level and boss Steve Cooper confirmed after the match that the defender had been taken to hospital.
Cooper’s strugglers could have been forgiven for fearing the worst after missing a penalty and trailing against high flying Brighton. But Forest fought back with a dramatic comeback to move out of the bottom three.
Jason Steele’s penalty save from Brennan Johnson paved the way for Albion to take the lead through Facundo Buonanotte in the 38th minute. The star’s goal threatened to bid ‘goodnight’ to Forest’s top-flight survival hopes.
But Forest showed resilience to level in first half stoppage time through Renan Lodi’s deflected cross off Pascal Gross.
The hosts then took the lead in the 69th minute when Danilo scored his first goal for the club before Morgan Gibbs-White settled it from the spot .
It earned Forest their first win in 12 attempts and was a hammer blow to Brighton who are trying to qualify for Europe for the inaugural time.
But the win came at cost for Forest who already had 12 players injured and lost Moussa Niakhaté to a hamstring injury. Cooper, whose side visit Brentford on Saturday, assessed: “It is a good win. I’m over the moon and so pleased for the players and fans.
“But we haven’t won in months and I was walking off the pitch thinking: ‘let’s get ready for Brentford’. You think of the penalty miss and injuries, for the players to show that resilience and mentality. We got through it and we should take a lot of heart from that.
“We have to believe. We are in control of our destiny.”
