NEWPORT County manager Anthony Hudson leapt to the defence of Tom Miller after Saturday’s friendly against Bolton was overshadowed by a horrific injury to Chung-Yong Lee.

Bolton won the match 3-1 but the talking-point was the South Korean’s double fracture to the lower right leg after a late challenge by Miller.

Lee was given oxygen on the pitch as the match was held up for eight minutes, and taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital where he underwent surgery on Saturday night. Bolton have confirmed that he will be sidelined for up to nine months.

County utility man Miller has found himself the victim of an internet hate campaign by Trotters fans and South Koreans, for whom Lee has played 40 internationals.

But Exiles boss Hudson insists that the tackle that caused the injury was merely clumsy, with no malicious intent on Miller’s part.

“Tom is devastated,” he said. “It’s totally out of character from him. He’s very honest and he was in tears after it but these things happen in football.

“It took the gloss off the day, really. In the Conference it was probably a great challenge but the fella’s got such great feet that he was too quick for him. There was certainly no malice in it at all.”

Former Swansea City midfielder Darren Pratley, who signed for Bolton this summer, was nearby and he agrees that the incident was an accident.

“To be fair, I think his feet were just a bit too quick for the lad,” he said.

“Their players said he’s not like that, he’s not a bad lad and I think he asked to come off straightaway.

“It’s disappointing to lose someone of Lee’s quality, a big blow. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer lad.

“We wish him well and hope he has a quick recovery.”

Bolton boss Owen Coyle was visibly upset by the injury to one of his star performers but he refused to apportion blame after the match.

“I’m not here to say who is to blame,” said Coyle. “The boy has got a really bad injury and he’s such a talented player – a player who’ll play on the world stage.

“I think you saw from the reaction of the players how much he means to them.”

Hudson was pleased with his side’s performance against a near full-strength visiting side.

“It was a great test for us. They are a quality team with some fantastic individual players,” he said.

“We gave a good account of ourselves considering we were missing some key players in key positions.

“We made some mistakes and there were little things we need to tidy up but overall I was pleased. We lacked a little bit to get in behind them but it was a good performance.”

County are set to announce the signings of right-back Paul Rodgers and midfielder Guillame Velez today and Hudson is also close to securing Dagenham & Redbridge midfielder Ben Johnson in a loan deal.

“John Still (Dagenham manager) is coming up this week and we’ll sort out how we’re going to do that deal,” said Hudson, after the player featured for over an hour on Saturday.