Nottingham Forest have confirmed that their academy star Archie Whitehall is ‘recovering well’ from a head injury after their pre-season friendly was abandoned.

Forest’s academy faced Alfreton Town on Tuesday night as part of their pre-season preparations but the match was called off at half-time after Whitehall sustained an injury.

Forest’s official academy account tweeted: “Tonight’s pre-season fixture against Alfreton Town has been abandoned following an injury to Archie Whitehall. Archie is recovering well from a head collision. We send our wishes to Archie for a speedy recovery.”

The incident occurred in the 30th minute when Whitehall challenged for the ball and required medical attention. He was then treated on the pitch before being replaced 12 minutes later by Jack Nadin.

Play was allowed to resume and over 10 additional minutes were played before the referee whistled for half-time. It was then announced that the match would then be abandoned.

Alfreton Town FC tweeted, wishing Whitehall well by saying: “Unfortunately following the injury to the Nottingham Forest player, tonight’s game is abandoned. We wish Archie Whitehall a speedy recovery.”

Nottingham Forest’s first-team will face Olympiacos on Thursday evening in their final pre-season clash. Their preparations do not appear to have gone entirely to plan for Nuno Espirito Santo, beating both Chesterfield and Millwall but being held to a draw by Sunderland and Villareal.

Forest have been busy in the summer transfer window so far, and the injection of fresh talent will be keen to hit the ground running at the City Ground. They will face Bournemouth on the opening weekend of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign, before taking on Southampton and then Wolves.