A SAINTS fan has spoken of the dramatic moment he and his wife came to the rescue of a rival supporter after he was attacked and knocked unconscious.

Sean Edmunds and his wife Suzie were leaving St Mary's Stadium after Saints beat Bournemouth 2-nil on Sunday when they spotted a man laying unconscious on the ground surrounding by a huge group of fans from both sides.

The pair, wearing their Saints shirts, leapt into action, jumping over a fence and into the middle of Cherries supporters to get to the injured man, who was was suffering from serious head injuries after it is believed he was punched.

Yesterday, police confirmed a 39-year-old man from Christchurch was in hospital in a serious but not life-threatening condition following an incident just minutes after the match, close to the King Alfred pub in Northam.

A 53-year-old man from Southampton was arrested at the scene in connection with the incident but was released on bail.

Sean and Suzie, who is a paramedic, were with the man when he came round and treat him at the scene.

Sean, 44, who is an ambulance technician from Warwickshire but follows Southampton both home and away, said: "It was quite an intimidating scene but when we saw this man on the ground we just had to go and help.

"There was all this shouting and swearing with police trying to keep the two sets of fans separated.

"Someone was already with him holding his head, we were able to take over and when he came round we carried out a series of tests to see how he was.

"He was very confused, he couldn't tell us where he was and he had an egg-sized swelling on the back of his head.

"It was only afterwards that we realised what we had just done - jumping into the middle of a fracas with two opposing sides and us dressed in our Saints gear.

"But we have a duty of care and if I would have walked past that guy on the floor I would not have been able to live with myself. We care about people and that's why we do the job we do."

He added: "What was lovely was that by the end of it the Cherries fans were shaking our hands to thank us for looking after their friend."

As the area was filled with hundreds of fans leaving the stadium, police are appealing for any witnesses who may have seen what happened to come forward.

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.