Luton Town defender Tom Lockyer watched his side’s Championship play-off final win from hospital after a horrifying moment when he collapsed on the Wembley turf
Tom Lockyer knew he would make it to the Premier League stage after a pep-talk from Christian Eriksen’s cardiologist.
âThe Luton Town captain collapsed on the pitch during the Championship play-off final against Coventry 76 days ago and celebrated their penalty shoot-out triumph from his hospital bed. When the Hatters make their first appearance in the top flight for 31 years at Brighton tomorrow on Saturday, Lockyer will count his blessings to be part of the squad after the Wembley scare in which he lost consciousness.
âAnd it was only when the Wales defender was referred to Sanjay Sharma, the consultant who oversaw Denmark midfielder Eriksen’s return to football after his cardiac arrest in Copenhagen at Euro 2020, that the path towards a comeback cleared in a trice. Lockyer, 28, revealed: “I think I was out for about two minutes, and it was weird because when I came round I felt fine, no pains or anything like that.
â”The physio was saying to me, ‘Locks, can you hear me?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ He said, ‘You’re coming off’ and I wasn’t having any of it. It was only when he told me I had collapsed on the pitch when I thought, ‘Why am I on the floor?’ I couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt and letting the lads down – that’s when the emotions poured out of me and I couldn’t stop crying.