A hockey match was abandoned after a player had to be taken to hospital following a head injury.

The game between Norwich Dragons and Dereham Ladies was called off after Dereham player Helen Malcolmson was knocked unconscious after being hit in the back of the head by a ball.

Dereham Hockey Club chairman Richard Turner said: 'Helen Malcolmson spent the afternoon in hospital.

'She was told she could go home in the evening.

'It was an unfortunate incident, one of the Norwich Dragons' players struck the ball and it came up and struck her on the back of the head.

'She wasn't particularly lucid and kept dropping in and out of consciousness.

'It is unusual to be honest. It is not unusual to take a ball in the face but to be knocked out is unusual.'

She was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital by ambulance for treatment.