Colchester 1-4 Tottenham: Alex Wynter 'recovering well' after sickening clash of heads in FA Cup loss

Colchester United have confirmed that Alex Wynter was kept in hospital following the heavy defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on 30 January, but thankfully his CT scan came back normal. The former Crystal Palace centre-back started the FA Cup fourth-round tie in Essex, but was involved in a sickening accidental clash of heads with teammate Tom Eastman during the early stages of the first half.

While trying to negate the danger posed by a lofted pass towards Harry Kane, Wynter tried to head it back to goalkeeper Jake Kean but instead took the full force of Eastman's attempted clearance directly in the face. Such a blow left the 22-year-old in a crumpled heap on the turf and he received several minutes of medical attention before finally being stretchered off to warm applause from both sets of supporters.

"Colchester United's central defender Alex Wynter is recovering well after a clash of heads in Saturday's Emirates FA Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur," the League One relegation candidates confirmed in an update posted on their official website.

"Alex was involved in a nasty incident with fellow central defender Tom Eastman just two minutes into Saturday's fourth round clash and taken off on a stretcher after lengthy treatment on the pitch.

"The former Crystal Palace man was taken straight to Colchester General Hospital for observations, but was able to talk to medical staff and his family during the course of the afternoon. Whilst still a little groggy, his CT scan came back normal and Alex will be kept in hospital until midnight to monitor his recovery."

While Wynter was immediately withdrawn, Eastman disappeared down the tunnel to receive stitches to a nasty head wound that was pouring with blood. He later returned to action sporting a thick Terry Butcher-esque bandage and made two good blocks to deny Christian Eriksen before the decision was made by manager Kevin Keen to replace him with Matthew Briggs.

Losing both first-choice centre-backs understandably disrupted Colchester's gameplan. The Us, currently seven points adrift of safety at the foot of English football's third tier, possess the worst defensive record in the Football League and were powerless to prevent their dominant top-flight opponents from scoring four times through Nacer Chadli, Eric Dier and Tom Carroll. The hosts grabbed a second-half consolation when a shot from Gavin Massey rebounded back off the post and struck Ben Davies before rolling in.