Three-hour ambulance wait but Partick Thistle’s Courtney Stewart awake and alert in hospital after head injury

Partick Thistle gave a positive update on the health of Courtney Stewart following her three-hour wait for an ambulance after suffering a head injury in a game against Rangers.

Stewart suffered a bad reaction following a collision with Laura Rafferty of Rangers during his side’s 4-0 defeat in the Scottish Women’s Premier League at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld.

Thistle head coach Brian Graham had called for change following the lengthy wait for his player to get to hospital after the incident.

An update from Thistle read: “After suffering a head injury 10 minutes into the game against Rangers, Courtney was taken by ambulance at just after 5pm to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

“Courtney is still in hospital but is awake, alert and talking and CT scans and X-rays have been clear.”

Thistle thanked their physio, Alannah MacPherson, Rangers’ medical team and St John’s first-aiders for their “excellent response” and wished a “speedy recovery” to Rafferty, who also went off following the clash of heads.

Midfielder Stewart added on social media that she was “beyond grateful for all the messages of love and support” while thanking the medical staff.

She also wrote: “Like Mario Balotelli once said… ‘why always me?!'”

Speaking soon after the game, Graham called for a new approach after the long wait for an ambulance.

“You fear the worst as soon as you see it happening but you’ve got to give credit to our medical staff, the Rangers medical staff and the first-aider because they really looked after her,” the Thistle men’s captain and women’s head coach said in a club video.

“But she is still waiting on an ambulance as we speak right now and I think something’s got to change on that front.

“Everybody is trying to keep her awake because she keeps trying to fall asleep. From a medical point of view we are just trying to keep her awake while we wait on an ambulance to get her to hospital and get her really checked over. We just hope she’s OK.”