Baxter said he felt it was the “right decision” to abandon the game and his players “were not keen to play on”.

“If you don’t have an ambulance here then you’ve no cover,” he added.

“While there was one or two medical people still in the stadium, it didn’t feel right for everyone.

“It was the right thing to do. Football is a game we all love and enjoy, with the friendships and camaraderie, but when it comes to someone’s health, you make all the right calls for the right reasons and the right decision was made today.”

That was echoed by Bangor’s assistant manager, Dean Gordon, who felt it was the right thing to stop the game despite his side holding a 1-0 advantage.

“First and foremost, we wish Paul all the best. You have to consider him at the end of the day, and his family were there watching,” he said.

“It was the right call to make. The players had been standing about for 25 or 30 minutes, and some of the players had seen the incident as well.

“It’s frustrating from our perspective as we were winning 1-0, but it was the right call.”

Baxter said that improvements for stadiums in the Irish Premiership “can’t come quick enough”.

Carrick Rangers were one of 20 clubs who progressed to the next stage in a bid to secure a slice of the Northern Ireland Football Fund.

Carrick applied for £5.8m for improvements to Taylors Avenue.

“These stadiums are built in a certain way. We have had the discussions at length this week about the stadium funding and the improvements that are needed around our grounds.

“It couldn’t come quick enough, and I mean that for every ground. I’ve been saying it for years, the stadiums need upgrading to the standard of Irish League football.

“If walls can be taken away in that process, that would be great. We’re interested in peoples’ health and well-being.”