Veteran Prospect defender Paul Towlson is likely to miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken leg in Sunday's 1-0 First Division defeat by Paget.

The tall, aggressive centre-back collapsed in agony at White Hill Field, eventually leaving the pitch by ambulance and taken to King Edward VII Hospital where he remained in a general ward yesterday.

The incident proved to be a blow not only to the player but also to new coach Earl Basden who has ambitions of steering the club towards promotion, striving to improve on a fourth place finish last season.

"Unfortunately it has proven to be a serious break, actually it's the knee itself," said the coach of Towlson's injury. "I can't say how long he will be out of football, our biggest concern right now is for his health in general.

"To be honest we are not even thinking about when he will be playing soccer right now, we just want him to be as comfortable as possible so that the doctors can deal with the situation."

The coach said that it was possible that the defender would undergo surgery some time in the next few days.

Basden, who had been out of soccer for three seasons - his last stint was at Southampton Rangers before resigning because of work commitments - admitted the loss of his key defender would further hamper his side's progress.

Prospect drew their opening match, lost on Sunday and have yet to score a goal.

"Hurricane Fabian really hit our (pre-season) training," added Basden. "With most of the players being police officers they were required to work around the clock and therefore had difficulty training.

"We haven't scored a single goal but in time improvement will come, we simply have to overcome this setback, and the lack of training."

Basden accepted the role of full-time coach just prior to the season when former coach David Furbert advised club officials that work commitments would restrict his availability.