A football coach who had a cardiac arrest on the pitch was saved by quick-thinking colleagues who used an on-site defibrillator to bring him back to life.

Club president Martyn Dicker had been acting as linesman when he collapsed at Chipperfield Corinthians’ Queen Street home ground during the senior reserves’ match on Saturday afternoon.

The 56-year-old had complained to a fellow supporter about having chest pains - and even joked about it not being a heart attack - shortly before he staggered onto the pitch and collapsed.

Players and coaches immediately grabbed the automated external defibrillator from the club house and administered an electric shock to the grandfather’s chest.

Martyn said: “To be honest I’ve been living in a bubble since it happened. I’ve been in shock.

"You just don’t think this kind of thing can happen to you. To be fine at quarter past three and then an hour and a half later be in hospital having a stent fitted - it’s hard to comprehend.”

“I didn’t remember any of it, I can remember vaguely looking up from the pitch, looking up and seeing faces above me and people staying various things.

"But I don’t remember any CPR or anything about the electric shock.

“Undoubtedly the people on the ground saved my life.The staff at Harefield kept saying that I was very lucky - I was in the right place at the right time.

"If I’d have been at home I would probably have died because we obviously wouldn’t have had a defibrillator at hand.”

Paramedics were on the scene within minutes and the father-of-three - whose son Hayden, 23, had been playing in the match - was rushed to Harefield Hospital where he underwent surgery to have a heart stent fitted.

After a three-night stay he is now recuperating at his Chipperfield home with his wife Ruth, and other son Tristan, 26. His pregnant daughter Sophie, 27, lives nearby with her two young children.

Dale van Dresh, 29, was the player who performed the CPR. The centre back, from Apsley, near Hemel Hempstead, had only recently undergone first aid training in his role as a site foreman.

“One minute we were playing and the next someone was shouting: “Incident! Incident!””, he said. “Initially I thought a fight had broken out or something and then I saw someone running from behind the goal and Martyn face down on the pitch.

He said: “Instinct just took over. I just thought in my head: “I know CPR, I need to go and help”. I was first on the scene and I just ended up commanding the situation.

"There was one moment when I thought we’d lost him - his eyes went grey, like grey death eyes but then he came round.

"I said: “Martyn, Martyn, what’s your surname?” And he said: “Dicker”, and I thought: “Thank God for that.

"It was pretty traumatising. I had a few sleepless nights when I just kept on having flashbacks to Martyn’s face. It’s only since he texted me to say he’s on the mend that I’ve been able to sleep properly.”

Martyn, who has been involved with Chipperfield Corinthians for 20 years, has sent Dale a text which reads: “No exaggeration: You are a life-saver.”