Rohaan Simons remembers little of what happened after he was involved in a sickening accident during Sunday's Premier Division clash between Somerset and Devonshire Colts. But one thing he knows for sure is that he wants to get back to playing soccer.

Simons (25), who scored the Trojans goal in the 1-1 draw, was knocked out and lost feeling in much of his body after a last-minute collision with Colts' 'keeper Khabir Dill at White Hill Field.

The match was held up for half an hour as first fire service and then ambulance personnel tended to the player before taking him to King Edward VII hospital.

Fearing he might be paralysed, Simons, from Somerset, spent more than four hours at the hospital before specialists were able determine that he had not suffered any permanent damage.

Recuperating at home, the Department of Works and Engineering employee recalled the accident yesterday.

"I remember everything until I hit the ground," he said. "I was knocked out in mid-air.

"When I hit the ground I landed on the back of my head and my neck. I think that pinched a nerve because I couldn't move my arms. I couldn't move my legs either - I could wiggle my toes but I couldn't lift anything."

Simons believes he was only unconscious momentarily.

"I think I came around after a couple of seconds," he said. "I opened my eyes and looked around. But I was kind of in and out. I would hear some things and not others."

Simons said he did not feel frightened in the immediate aftermath, but was concerned for his safety.

"I wasn't really scared, it was more shock than anything," he said. "I was hoping I wasn't paralysed."

Simons' mother and father witnessed the accident and rushed to be by his side when the enormity of the situation became apparent.

"My daddy was telling me that when he saw me go down he knew something was wrong," he said. "He knew when I was in the air because I didn't try to brace my fall. Normally, I brace myself because I get fouled a lot.

"I was just laid there with my hands still up in the air. That's when everyone was like 'stop the game and get over to him'."

Simons said the most worrying period for him was when he reached Hamilton.

"It was kind of scary once I got to the hospital because they kept saying 'we can't move you, we can't do anything to you, we can't move you off the board until you are cleared'," he said. "They really didn't know if I was going to be cleared or not.

"When I went to the x-ray they took three pictures and then came back and told me something didn't look right at the tip of my spine. They called a supervisor and had to take more pictures."

After an hour and a half in the x-ray department, Simons was finally given the OK and left the hospital around 10 p.m.

"I was happy to be let out," he said. "They wheeled me out in a wheelchair and I was able to sit up with a little assistance and get into my car and my mom drove me home."

Simons, who was feeling 'extremely stiff and sore' yesterday but otherwise none the worse for his experience, said he was 'definitely' going to be back on the pitch.

"I jokingly told my father that I am packing it in because I am tired of getting injured," he said laughing. "But I was just playing around though and trying to keep myself in a good mood about the whole thing.

"I've actually been knocked out before, although it wasn't as bad. I was knocked out against PHC in 1997. I scored after 37 seconds and I don't think they really liked that! The same thing happened - I went up for a header, got hit in my temple and that was it."

Simons, who said those that assisted him had done a 'fantastic job', said he had no hard feelings against his opponent Dill.

"It wasn't anything malicious," he said. "There was no intent. We were both going up for the ball. I think his head hit my temple and that was it. It happens, it was just a little miscalculation."

Despite these incidents he said he did not consider himself to be a 'marked man'.

"It just happens," he said. "It's a typical footballer's life in Bermuda."