One-time Republic of Ireland squad member Caleb Folan's debut for Hull City ended in disaster when he wound up in hospital after clashing with an opposing player.

The striker, who recently joined Hull for a club record of £1 million after Wigan boss sold him to make way for new signing Marcus Bent, was involved in a clash of heads with Blackpool defender Kaspars Gorkss in the Coca-Cola Championship match last night.

Folan, who has yet to win a cap for Ireland, was making his debut after signing a three-year contract with Hull.

He had only joined the Latics in January for £500,000 from Chesterfield, scoring twice in 16 appearances.

The 23 year-old, who had put in an impressive performance for the Tigers was initally unconscious following the challenge from Gorkss and the game was held up for almost 10 minutes as he received treatment.

Hull manager Phil Brown later revealed that Folan would be staying in hospital for 24 hours.

"It was very worrying. He appeared to be unconscious for a couple of minutes but he was talking as they led him out of the ground on a stretcher," said the Tigers manager.

To make matters worse for Hull, Blackpool won the match 2-1 with former Tigers player Ben Burgess scoring the winner in the eighth minute of injury-time.