MANCHESTER UNITED goalkeeper Nathan Bishop tweeted a grovelling apology to Paul Mullin.
The pair collided 12 minutes into the Red Devils’ pre-season defeat to Wrexham in San Diego.
Bishop wiped the Wrexham star out and inadvertently punctured the striker’s lung, forcing him to leave the pitch with an oxygen mask and then be rushed to hospital.
And the shot-stopper took to Twitter to apologise for the accident.
The United star wrote: “Just wanted to share my sincerest apologies to @PMullin7.
“A complete misjudgement and a genuine accident with 0 malicious intent at all!
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“Wishing you the speediest recovery and hope to see you back scoring goals as soon as possible!”
Mullin headed to social media himself with a thumbs-up selfie from hospital, writing: “Thank you for all your message. All good here.”
Wrexham owner Ryan Reynolds later praised his No10, adding: “Paul Mullin puts his last drop of blood into everything he does. The entire Wrexham community is pulling for a speedy recovery.”
Bishop was only booked for the challenge but was booed by fans – and Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson launched a scathing attack on the 23-year-old keeper after the worrying injury for his key player just 11 days before their League Two return.
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He said: “I’m fuming about it, I’ve got to be honest with you. It was a clumsy, reckless, challenge in a pre-season game and I’m not happy with it at all.
“I haven’t seen the goalie and he’s probably best steering clear of us for the time being because we’re not very happy.
“It should have been a straight red. If it’s not denying a goal-scoring opportunity it’s still a dangerous challenge so if you add the two scenarios together he should have been off the pitch.
“It’s a dangerous challenge and obviously Paul Mullin is our talisman. The way the lads responded after that I thought was outstanding.
“That’s what we’re all about as a group – resilience, sticking together.”
United were later furious to hear what Parkinson had said, believing he was inflaming the situation and risking social media abuse for Bishop.
They believe it was an honest mistake by a young goalkeeper who did his best to apologise through Wrexham staff.
It was a torrid evening for United’s youngsters as Dan Gore was sent off for a studs-up slide tackle in the 3-1 defeat to the Red Dragons.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
