A SUNDAY league football crowd was left bemused when an air ambulance arrived to pick up an injured player, only to fly off without him.

Mark Harrison, 24, suffered a suspected broken ankle during the Com 2000 UK Consett Sunday League match between Stanley Central and the Duke of Wellington pub.

Worried team-mates called for an ambulance, then watched as it landed next to the pitch - at Kingshead Fields, Stanley - only to take off again without the injured player.

Mr Harrison, from South Stanley, was then treated at the scene by paramedics, before being taken by road to Dryburn Hospital, in Durham City.

North-East Ambulance Service said an ambulance was on the scene in six minutes.

It added that the helicopter, which had flown from Blyth, in Northumberland, would have taken the injured man to a landing pad at Aykley Heads, then he would have had to wait for the road ambulance to catch them up.

Steve Whinfield, director of operations, said it would have been a poor use of resources. "That could have meant too much time spent hanging around waiting," he said.

Mark Webber, Stanley Central FC's secretary, said the injured player's team-mates were worried for his well-being when they saw the helicopter fly off.

He said: "He was freezing, and we were trying to make him comfortable. We were wondering why this helicopter arrived, then left him lying there."

Minutes later, the same helicopter was used to winch another injured footballer, Shaun Robinson, 21, of Cockton Hill Workmen's Club, Bishop Auckland, to Dryburn after he suffered a suspected broken leg in a match.