Livingston defender Cammy MacDonald reveals blow of losing last minute equaliser was more painful than being knocked unconcious

Aug 12 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

CAMMY MACDONALD hit the ground in a crumpled heap.

He hadn’t just taken a sore one — he’d been knocked clean out.

The Livingston stopper didn’t know if he was coming or going after a last minute collision with David Gormley.

But the pain from the Alloa subs heel, which crashed into MacDonald’s temple, paled in comparison to the pain he felt when he was told in hospital the incident had resulted in a spot-kick for Alloa which had denied Livingston an opening day win.

Livi had been 3-2 up when MacDonald tried to stop Gormley grabbing a last minute equaliser.

The incident handed Alloa a penalty, which they converted, and resulted in MacDonald leaving the ground in an ambulance.

But this week he admitted to the Courier that finding out Alloa had nicked a point at the death was a far more painful blow to take.

He said: “I didn’t even know there was a penalty given and it wasn’t until I came round a bit in the hospital that my dad told me we’d drawn 3-3 and I’d given away a penalty.

“I can’t remember the incident and all I can remember is turning and facing my own goal. Then the next thing is someone talking to me in the ambulance, taking my blood pressure and that’s when I woke up.

“It was a worse blow to hear Alloa had been given a penalty to get a draw especially after it was me who made the mistake for their second-goal as well.”

Fears the 20-year-old had suffered a serious injury were later eased by X-rays at hospital but he concedes he has no idea when the club will give him the all-clear to return to training.

“I have a small crack to the corner of my eye-socket but the doctors have said I need to let it heal naturally as it isn’t a fracture,” he continued.

“I’ve been icing it every day and the swelling has gone right down and it is just a bit tender now.

“I can also see out of it now so it is ok although I also have a sore neck from the fall.

“Until about 10pm on Saturday night both my eyes were closed as it was more comfortable to do that.

“I had a pinging pain across my temple, couldn’t see anyone and it was much more swollen until Monday as well.

“I have watched the incident on video and it is hard to tell how I was hurt but TJ (Livingston physio) reckons the Alloa player’s heel has caught me in the eye.

“But I don’t remember any of it, not even the impact, so I suppose I’m quite lucky that way.

“The chairman, manager and assistant were all in touch with me after the match and gave me Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off to rest up but to be honest I’m going a bit crazy with boredom.

“I’d much rather be down at the club, training with the boys and preparing for the match with Dumbarton on Saturday.

“I’m going in to see TJ on Thursday (today) and won’t know until then how long I’ll be out for.

“I’d be back in training today if I could but because it is my head and neck I have to be careful.

“I doubt I’ll make the Dumbarton game but I don’t want to miss any games so I’ll be down supporting the boys from the stand.

“I would also like to thank TJ and the paramedics on Saturday who I’ve been told were fantastic with me, unfortunately I can’t remember.

“I won’t get the chance to thank them personally but they were really helpful and top-notch.”

Although the penalty incident remains a blur for Cammy, he can remember the rest of the match without any problems and he holds his hands up for his part in Alloa’s second goal as well.

He added: “Right now I’m feeling disappointed that we didn’t win the game on Saturday.

“You shouldn’t really need to score four goals to win a home game.

“I felt the team played well and it was only individual mistakes which cost us the win.

“I’ll take complete responsibility for the last two-goals and if we take them out of the equation we’ve won the game comfortably.

“The manager said to us at half-time if we score the next goal it will kill the game but Alloa got it.

“We showed at Ross County how well we are capable of playing as a team.

“We also have one of the youngest squads in the four divisions in Scotland. Guys like myself, Keaghan Jacobs and David Sinclair are being called experienced whereas at any other club we definitely wouldn’t be.

“It’s going to take time for the younger lads like us to learn to cut out the mistakes but if we didn’t make these mistakes we’d all be playing in the Premiership.”