THE father of a promising Hampshire footballer has told of the horror as his son collapsed during a match.

Robbie Tambling stopped breathing while playing for Gosport Borough during the closing stages of their game at AFC Totton’s Testwood Park.

Dad Stephen looked on as the 17-year-old fell to his knees and then rolled on to his side.

Medics put the striker in a recovery position before he lost consciousness. His lips had turned blue and his pulse vanished during the drama.

But he regained consciousness moments later and his condition improved as ambulance crews rushed to the scene of the Zamaretto Southern 1 South and West league match.

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Last night Robbie was recovering at home having been discharged from hospital in the small hours of yesterday morning.

Reliving the incident, Stephen, 51, said: “Panic set in around him – you could see something was not right “It was frightening at the time – I think any parent would be frightened if that happened.

“It was scary – and they did think he had lost his pulse.”

Robbie had undergone tests on his heart in recent weeks, but had been given the all-clear to play the morning before Tuesday’s match.

Stephen, a roofer, said medics had told him that further tests were now needed on his son, a former Hayling College student who lives in Portsmouth.

“They are saying his heart is fine,” he added.

“We don’t know what happened, but it was not a heart attack.

“It is a mystery, what happened to him, but he will be going back to the doctor and we will be going down different lines of inquiry to find out what the problem is.

“He is doing fine now, but has a bit of a head ache.”

Club officials have recently handed a playing contract to Robbie.

The teenager is the great nephew of the Chelsea legend Bobby Tambling, who is the London club’s all-time top scorer with 202 goals and made four England appearances in the early sixties.

Manager Alex Pike praised club medics for their quick thinking and added: “Robbie has got great potential as a goal scorer.

“I am really relieved that he is ok and at home, but it’ll be a source of worry until we find out what is wrong.”