Wisbech St Mary boss Arran Duke has praised staff at Ely City for their quick-thinking after defender Danny Emmington suffered concussion and severe whiplash in the sides’ Cambs Invitation Cup semi-final last night.

Emmington was rushed to hospital and the game was abandoned after a clash of heads between the 22-year-old and the Robins’ George Darling.

The Saints defender has since returned from hospital and is facing a two to three week spell on the sidelines, and Duke has thanked staff at Ely for their help in ensuring Emmington received quick and thorough treatment.

“I have to say a huge thank you to everyone at Ely City,” he said.

“They were all brilliant in helping Danny.”

Duke also admitted his men are lacking confidence after suffering a 4-2 home defeat to Team Bury last weekend.

The Saints have struggled to find consistency in the Thurlow Nunn First Division of late and have only won two of their last five, and Duke has identified Saturday’s encounter at Cornard United as a prime opportunity to get back on track.

“We go into the Cornard game looking to find a bit of form,” he said.

“There’s no lack of quality in the squad but we are lacking belief in ourselves at the moment and we want to get a good performance under our belts.

“We’ve been very inconsistent lately; when we are very good but when we are poor we are very poor so we need to stop that trend.

“Going to Cornard will be tough with the injuries we’ve sustained lately but we have a squad all hungry to get things right, so the game can’t come quickly enough for us.”