TWO years after a mindless soccer challenge, which might well have ended an amteur footballer's playing days, the victim of the tackle was awarded thousands for the injuries he sustained. Winchester Crown Court ordered the insurers of Headley Football Club to pay an Aldershot amateur footballer £10,000 compensation after he was badly injured in a match by one of the club's players. Software engineer Andrew Crolla, 26, played centre-half for Pyestock FC in the Aldershot and District League Senior Division in a game against Headley FC in January 2004. During the game Mr Crolla suffered a badly broken leg after Leigh Keddle of Headley FC carried out a late and high tackle with his studs up. The judge, Ian Hughes, said: "The opponent played the man not the ball, and this was a negligent tackle." Two years after he was first injured, Mr Crolla still suffers pain and discomfort. He said: "This was not a violent match and there was no history of trouble between the two teams. "I went for a ball that was clearly mine and had already passed to a team-mate when the tackle came in. "The opposition player had his studs up and hit me halfway between the knee and the ankle. "I heard my bone snap and shouted for an ambulance. I have never known such agony. I was rushed to the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, where I was operated on." His solicitor, Paul Kitson, said: "Mr Crolla had already passed the ball to a team-mate when the tackle came in and so the judge said it was an example of a very bad and dangerous tackle. "The impact was so hard that Mr Crolla broke both his tibia and fibula in his right leg and he required an operation in which a metal pin was inserted into his tibia via the knee, with screws below the knee and screws above the ankle. "The compensation will reimburse Mr Crolla for the medical expenses he has had to meet as well as for the pain and suffering he still endures."