SOCCER player Mark Palmer had to be airlifted to hospital after suffering an horrific injury during a friendly match.

The 33-year-old suffered a compound fracture of his right leg in a pre-season friendly for Mathern Wanderers.

Mark snapped both his shin and calf bones – as Premiership stars Eduardo and Aaron Ramsey have done – and was rushed by air ambulance to Frenchay Hospital.

Surgeons at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol have told the unemployed plasterer it could be 12 months before he pulls on his boots again – although another specialist said he could be back in action by the end of the season.

Mark said: I can't remember too much about the actual tackle and I certainly can't remember the flight to Frenchay but that was probably the morphine they gave me to kill the pain.

"I remember the ambulance crew arriving and they tried to give me morphine but they couldn't get a drip into my arm so they gave me something else which helped.

"I think it was a human form of a drug they give horses. It worked though," he added.

Mark describes himself as a "bit of an all-rounder" able to play up front or on the wing – although he has appeared in goal.

He added: "I'll just have to take it as it comes – I'm obviously gutted not to be playing in what is a very good Wanderers team this season but it's made me more determined to get back to playing as soon as I can."

Mark is staying involved with the Mathern side helping out as coach and manager of the second side,