Football: Buckley improves

(First Edition)

JOHN BUCKLEY, who fractured his skull in a match last weekend, came out of a coma yesterday and was taken off a life-support machine.

The 30-year-old winger with Second Division Rotherham United was able to move his arm and leg in response to commands from doctors at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, although he was still heavily sedated.

Buckley, injured in a clash of heads with an opponent, remained in intensive care. A club spokesman said: 'He still has a long way to go yet.'