COLCHESTER United keeper Mark Cousins has spoken of his ‘sheer relief’ after team-mate Andy Bond walked away from a sickening collision with the big custodian in Tuesday night’s friendly game with Ipswich Town.

Bond was left knocked-out and in a bad way after the accidental clash of heads with Cousins, when both went for a high ball outside the area.

The game, with just 11 minutes left, was abandoned.

The Colchester keeper left the pitch in a distressed state, as paramedics fought to help the stricken Bond. After about 10 minutes, Bond managed to gingerly walk away to a waiting ambulance, his face bloodied.

And after an overnight stay, he was released from hospital yesterday afternoon.

“It was a terrible thing to happen and I don’t want to ever see a replay of that,” Cousins said.

“I just came out to head the ball clear as I was out of my area. It was a bad clash of heads.

“I don’t really remember what happened next, some of my team-mates said I ran back to cover the goal, but it all happened so fast. Andy is a good friend and we get on well.

“I didn’t want to look at him in the way he was, and I wanted to get off the pitch I knew it was very serious. It was sheer relief when some of my team-mates came into the dressing room and said Andy had got to his feet.”

As regards the match itself, Colchester played with fluency and in Anthony Wordsworth’s header, superbly saved by David Stockdale in the Town goal, had the best chance of the match.

“We were quite pleased with the way we played,” Cousins added.

“We passed it well and looked good. I just hope Andy is back with us at Preston for our opening match of the season.”