A BROKEN ankle sustained by a teammate unsettled Hexham as they lost to bottom of the table Cramlington Town.

Midfielder Matt Wilson was taken to Cramlington Hospital with the serious injury after teammate Tom Hacking and an opponent landed on his ankle as they all challenged for the same ball.

The injury and subsequent 15-minute delay seemed to throw Hexham off their stride, and they conceded two quick goals on their way to losing 4-3.

Hexham made the trip to Cramlington requiring the services of former goalkeeper Mark Stobbart, and they were expecting to be up against it in the opening half up against a strong wind.

Yet it was they who broke the deadlock on 38 minutes when Robbie Pattison broke against the run of play.

But Cramlington, whose strong performance belied their position at the foot of the table, were back on level terms when one of their players rocketed a thunder strike past Stobbart on the stroke of half time.

Having battled hard against the wind in the first half, Hexham would have been expecting to push on after the break but they found themselves trailing on 60 minutes when a striker turned the defence and fired past Stobbart.

Yet the scores were level again with just over quarter of an hour to go after Will Forsyth cut in from the left and teed up Kurtis Harvey to fire home the leveller.

Hexham had numerous chances to take the lead but were cursing their wastefulness in front of goal, Brad Lowes unable to add to his nine league goals so far which have him challenging towards the top of the division's goalscoring charts.

The stoppage in play then caused huge disruptions to the game, Wilson requiring medical attention after the painful incident.

And it seemed to have a negative impact on the Hexham side, Cramlington regaining the upper hand from the corner awarded.

They built on their momentum and opened up a two-goal cushion just three minutes later, giving Hexham it all to do if they were to keep up with the division's early pacesetters.

There was late hope provided courtesy of Hamish Forsyth as he found the back of the net with four minutes remaining, but that was as good as it got for the visitors.