AN incident that left a local footballer requiring surgery to correct a horrific facial injury saw the highly anticipated clash between two of Pembrokeshire’s top teams prematurely brought to a halt on Saturday.

Hakin United taking on rivals Merlins Bridge was rightly billed as the tie of the round in the Senior Cup.

But Referee Kevin Bowen abandoned the contest at the Observatory after just 23 minutes.

Bowen told Telegraph Sport: “I had real concerns over players’ safety.”

Bowen said there had been a serious assault on a Merlins Bridge player and he felt he was left with no choice but to end the game early.

Bridge striker Scott Crawford ended up in Morriston Hospital on Saturday night awaiting surgery on Monday to repair multiple fractures of his cheekbone.

Last season’s beaten finalists got the tie off to a dream start. Wizards’ skipper Stephen McNabney fired home with barely 50 seconds on the clock. The striker latched onto a Matthew D’Ivry cross from the right and finished clinically from six yards.

A few minutes later, and McNabney drilled home a second goal, the striker jinked past Andrew Kingston and buried a right footed shot from 18-yards past James Manson’s into the far right hand corner.

The Vikings were stunned, but re-grouped and pulled a goal back through striker Nicky Woodrow to get themselves right back in the game.

However, more niggle and needle crept into the game and Bowen dealt with an incident between Crawford and Hakin’s centre back Gareth Fawcett.

Minutes later Bowen spoke to Hakin manager Gary Dawes, and then Ashley Bevan put in a rash challenge on Matthew D’Ivry.

While Bowen was talking and issuing a yellow card to Bevan, the referee was called to an off the ball incident at the other end of the pitch where Crawford was left clutching his face following an alleged punch from Fawcett.

The referee then decided to blow his whistle early and ended the cup-tie.

Bowen has written his report to the West Wales Football Association and they will deal with the serious allegation accordingly.

Hakin United: James Manson, Nathan Banner, Gareth Fawcett, Andrew Kingston, Ewan Findlay, James Stanmore, Adam Davies, Jonathan Bennett, Ashley Bevan, Nicky Woodrow, Justin Harding. Subs: Paul Jones, Dan Evans.

Merlins Bridge: Chris Thomas, Andrew John, Peter Thomas, Chris Ormond, Matthew D’Ivry, Gethin Roberts, Nathan Green, Steven Dockerty, Stephen McNabney, Scott Crawford. Subs: Daniel Bryce, Paul Thomas, Dai Davies.

Referee: Kevin Bowen.