EFL star suffers gruesome eye injury in sickening clash of heads

Plymouth Argyle star Aribim Pepple was forced off with a gruesome-looking eye injury in the first-half of his side’s defeat to Lincoln.

After giving the Pilgrims an early lead, Pepple then saw his afternoon brought to an early end following a sickening clash of heads with Imps midfielder Ivan Varfolomeev.

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Horror clash of heads

On the stroke of half-time at Home Park, the two players went up for a header and collided, with both requiring treatment afterwards.

This caused a lengthy delay in the game, with Pepple needing attention after appearing to come off the worse of the two.

The 22-year-old was left with heavy swelling and a cut above his right eye, which required stitches.

Unsurprisingly, the horror injury spelt the end of Pepple’s afternoon, as he eventually had to be replaced by Owen Oseni.

As for Varfolomeev, he briefly returned to the pitch following the clash for the remaining five minutes of injury time.

But the Ukrainian did not return for the second half, as he was replaced by Tom Bayliss, clearly feeling the effects of the coming together.

Both sides are yet to provide an update on their respective players, with the match sparking to life without them in the second half.

Pilgrims go down without Pepple

Pepple fired Plymouth ahead with a superb strike in the 11th minute, as he smashed a left-footed effort into the corner of the net from 25 yards.

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This was the forward’s seventh goal of the season, but his side were unable to build on his early effort, with Lincoln equalising through Freddie Draper on 38 minutes.

And things went from bad to worse for Tom Cleverley‘s side after Pepple was forced off before the interval.

Promotion-chasing Lincoln came out firing in the second half, with a quick-fire double from Reeco Hackett-Fairchild putting them firmly in control with 25 minutes remaining.

The visitors then put the game to bed in the dying moments, as Ryan One raced clear on the counter to slot home and complete the rout.

This saw the Imps cement their place in the League One automatic places, who sit second and six points clear of third-placed Bolton.

Michael Skubala’s side also kept pace with leaders Cardiff, who lead the way by two points after a 3-0 win over Rotherham.

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Meanwhile, Plymouth sit a disappointing 16th in the table, and are now without a win in three games.

The Pilgrims fell to a 2-1 defeat to Stockport in their last outing, while they were held 1-1 at home by Mansfield before this.

It sees Argyle’s underwhelming season continue under ex-Manchester United midfielder Cleverley, whose side trails the play-off places by 12 points despite targeting an immediate return to the Championship following relegation last term.