Referee David Webb suffered a head injury and was replaced following a delay of several minutes during the first half of Leicester City's Premier League game against Southampton on Saturday. Webb, refereeing his first Premier League match at the age of 49, was struck in the face by the shoulder of Leicester forward Jordan Ayew and fell to the pitch. While Webb was lying on the pitch, Vardy crouched beside him and blew the whistle that was still in the stricken referee's hand. Vardy then walked away from Webb as the seriousness of the referee's injury prompted concern among players who called for medical treatment to help the official. "I saw Southampton breaking down the left and with the ref down I thought I'll blow his whistle to stop the game," Vardy told BBC Sport.
After five minutes of treatment on the pitch, Webb appeared unsteady as he returned to his feet but was able to walk off the pitch before heading to the dressing room for further treatment. He was replaced by fourth official Sam Barrott, who restarted the game between the two already-relegated teams after the 11-minute delay. "I felt sorry for the ref," Leicester head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy told a pos-tmatch news conference. "He hit a brick wall called Jordan Ayew, and that 's not easy. Vardy blew the whistle to help him out. I hope he's OK. We had to wait for 12 minutes, warm up and then start again, but I have not seen a body check like that for a long time."
Source: ESPN
