Footballer who nearly died plays for first time since freak accident

• Alex Fletcher talks to Rob Murphy after returning to competitive football

Footballer Alex Fletcher has returned to competitive action again, 10 months after his freak accident where he collided with a wall. The 24-year-old was left in a coma fighting for his life last November.

The Bath City striker's family was told his injuries were so severe that he may not remember them and he might have lost the use of his legs.

But after months of intensive physiotherapy he returned to training at the start of August.

He was named in City’s squad for Saturday’s match against face Hampton and Richmond Borough. He was brought on as a substitute in the 85th minute.

Afterwards he told ITV News: ‘It feels like a dream.

‘It was a bit surreal really. I knew I was going to be involved today. I've been working, building and training for the last few months with pre-season so to finally get back out there felt really good. It was a bit surreal because of the position I was in ten months ago, I wasn't so sure this day would come. But for it to finally be here, it's been a long wait. It means a lot.

‘It feels like a long time. It's been ten months. So the first few months were just getting back on my feet to begin with and learning to walk again. So to come from taking my first steps and then to now, I feel like a different person.

• Watch the moment Alex Fletcher returns to the pitch

Alex Fletcher, the team's Number Seven, suffered horrific injuries following a freak accident in which he collided with a concrete wall against Dulwich Hamlet. He was in a coma for five days and needed surgery.

Bath City’s manager Jerry Gill described the moment where he subbed Alex on: ‘I gave him a cuddle. This has been a long time coming. I'm sure Alex would say this (Bath City FC) is family and everyone connected to Bath City never thought we'd probably get to this day.

‘It's always been in the back of my mind. He's been training really hard with us. We've kept it really low key because we wanted to. Even going into today not many people knew about it. We felt as if that was the right thing to do because Alex just needs to focus on his football, making sure he's right and for us, also, it's a game of football.’

Bath City beat Hampton and Richmond 3-1 with two goals from Scott Wilson and a strike by Ewan Clark.