A mother has demanded answers after her 28-year-old son died despite being seen twice by doctors.

Car sprayer Craig stumbled and fell heavily on his left side while playing football for Tayside Fire Brigade FC on Saturday afternoon in Invergowrie near Dundee. He died the following day.

Now his death certificate has revealed his cause of death was a ruptured spleen.

His mother Dorothy, 51, said Craig had gone to A&E on Saturday but was sent home and told he had severe muscle damage.

Craig, father to Joshua, four, and Riley, one, was given painkillers but his condition worsened and he began vomiting.

In the early hours of the following day Dorothy said her and her younger son Steven, 19, had called NHS 24 when they noticed Craig’s condition had not improved.

A doctor, who arrived three hours after Craig’s family phoned NHS24, gave him two injections, one for sickness and one anti-inflammatory.

Dorothy, a social care worker, said Craig, a Dundee football fan, seemed to settle and she went out to get her grandchildren.

She said: “We wanted to come back to check on him. I tiptoed up the hall and expected to see him lying on the sofa but I heard the tap running in the kitchen.

“He was leaning against the fridge and I just knew he was dead.”

Dorothy, whose sister is a nurse, said Craig had all the symptoms of a ruptured spleen and that this should have been picked up by doctors.

She said: "Everything Craig went into A and E with was screaming ruptured spleen and especially with Craig saying hed got the injury at football, they should have obviosuly investigated it further. If they had noticed that he had a ruptured spleen then he could have had an emergency operation and Craig would be alive today."

She added that she had been left devastated by her son’s death.

She said: “Craig was my best friend. Craig lived for his children. The birth of his two sons was the best thing that ever happened to him.

“I’m finding it very hard. A few days ago he was here fit and healthy and now I will never see him again. How do you explain to two wee boys that they're never going to see their daddy again."

Dorothy also blasted NHS Tayside saying she had heard nothing from the health board since her son's death.

NHS Tayside has said it has launched an 'urgent and immediate' investigation into the death.

Dr Andrew Russell, medical director for NHS Tayside, said: "We recognise that this is an extremely difficult and distressing time for the family but I will be speaking with them to assure them that we will involve them at each and every stage of this investigation and will share with them the outcome of this inquiry."

Craig's funeral will be held on Tuesday afternoon at Dundee Crematorium.