Adrian Durham has hailed the ‘beautiful moment’ that Luton and Bournemouth’s supporters united in support of Tom Lockyer.
It has been confirmed the Hatters’ captain suffered a cardiac arrest as he collapsed on the pitch 60 minutes into the Premier League encounter at the Vitality Stadium, leading to the game being suspended with the scores level at 1-1.
Rob Edwards, the Luton boss, then ran onto the pitch with the players ushered away as the 29-year-old received treatment on the pitch.
The teams made their way down the tunnel to the dressing room as Lockyer – who also collapsed during the Championship play-off final in May – was stretchered off the pitch, with the match ultimately being abandoned with the player’s welfare being the main priority.
Lockyer was reported to be ‘alert and responsive’ before being taken to a local hospital, with the player sitting up and talking to his wife in the tunnel area.
With the game called off, both Luton and Bournemouth‘s players emerged back out of the tunnel and took to the pitch to applaud the fans in attendance.
Hatters manager boss Edwards looked emotional as he expressed his heartfelt gratitude to those in attendance who chanted Lockyer’s name.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Durham said: “The Luton players are applauding fans all around the ground, the Bournemouth fans as well, and they’re getting that applause back.
“There’s a mutual appreciation and the Bournemouth players are now out for exactly the same and it’s a beautiful thing, actually.
“Tribal rivalry and all that, it’s just swept aside, because all we’re bothered about is that Tom Lockyer is okay.
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“None of us really know Tom Lockyer but all we’re bothered about is that he’s okay and that’s the main thing.
“It was the right decision in the end [to suspend the game].”
Perry Groves added: “It’s a massive relief. This is about 11,000 human beings coming together and just being worried about the welfare and health of Tom Lockyer.
“You have to think about the Luton players as well because they’ve been through this before, so they’ll be unbelievably relieved.
“This has been an unbelievably emotional 20 minutes because for that space and time we didn’t know what was happening and Tom was stretchered off the pitch, but I could see that he was conscious, which was brilliant.
“I think that the right decision has been made, 100 per cent. There are things that are far, far, far more important than what football is and that’s what we’ve seen today.”
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“Absolutely right,” added Durham.
“Rob Edwards has gone in close to the Bournemouth fans, making sure they sense his appreciation for their patience, their support, their understanding.
“It’s actually a beautiful moment what’s going on here at the Vitality, a truly beautiful moment.
“He’s a great man, a man of the people, a man of understanding and a man who appreciates humanity, and that’s clearly showing here as we walks around – it’s like he’s individually applauding every single fan.”
Jonas Eidevall