Carlisle United manager Paul Simpson on defender Morgan Feeney's heart palpitations in Walsall game

The centre-half had to be replaced early in the second half of the Blues’ 1-0 defeat at the Banks’s Stadium.

Simpson stressed that captain Feeney came through an ECG (electrocardiogram) test with no cause for alarm, and was feeling better as he left the ground.

But the manager said there would be further assessments in an attempt to fully safeguard the 23-year-old’s health.

“He was getting some sort of heart palpitations, and I think he has a bit of an issue when the weather turns – it sounds really basic, but he’s a fair-skinned lad and when it starts to get a bit warmer he can suffer from an episode,” United manager Simpson said.

“I think at half-time, because he was feeling it in the first half, he got himself into a bit of a panic.

“Thankfully Walsall have got some equipment here, so he had an ECG when he went off and the trace from that is fine.

Feeney leaves the pitch in the second half of the Good Friday game

“It’s come back as perfectly normal – he’s ok now, he seems in a good state – but when it comes to the welfare of players it’s so important. There’s no way we’ll take chances on that, and as much as we want Morgan on the pitch, and we want to win, his welfare is massive as far as I’m concerned.

“It will be dealt with properly, we’ll make sure that’s the case. We have a very good medical department so it will be dealt with properly.

“Whatever things need to happen, whether any investigations need to go on – whether it’s a scan or screening I don’t know – I am not prepared to take risks with any player’s health.

“We have a duty to make sure we do that properly. I’m quite sure it will be dealt with properly.

“Morgan went inside with the doctor, and when he came back out he was much happier, calmer, and speaking really clearly.

“We’re hoping it was a little bit of an issue that he panicked about, and we should be able to crack on with him.

“Hopefully he’ll be fine for Monday. We’ll see how he goes over the next few days.”

Feeney went down and needed treatment early in the second half of the League Two encounter in the west Midlands.

Feeney removes the captain's armband before leaving the pitch

Simpson said the popular defender had been “concerned” about palpitations in the first half but felt able to continue in the game.

“He spoke to Ross [Goodwin, United’s physio] and they both felt it was ok to carry on.

“He got a little bit worse as the game was going on and I think it’s really important that we look after players.”

United play Mansfield at home on Monday and assessing Feeney’s condition will be paramount over the weekend.

Simpson added: “I hope I’m not going a little bit too over the top about it – I’m not a doctor, I don’t know the ins and outs, but I know that when Morgan came back out he was a lot calmer and he felt a lot happier with himself.

“Thankfully in modern football clubs you’ve got these little machines and that gave him a bit of a boost. Whether or not he’ll be medically ok for Monday, I don’t honestly know, we’ll wait and see.”

Simpson, meanwhile, sounded an optimistic note on the injury suffered by Josh Dixon in Thursday’s reserve game against Morecambe.

The Cumbrian midfielder was visibly upset as he was substituted in pain in the second half.

It raised fears of another serious injury to a young player who has already had to fight back from two cruciate knee ligament injuries during his time at Brunton Park.

Simpson said: “The only thing I can say on that is that he’s been examined by the academy physio today and we’re hoping it wasn’t as bad as first feared.

“I’m not talking from experience here, but I think when you’ve had a history of having a cruciate injury, you’re going to panic when you get another knee injury.

“I hope panic is what it was, I hope it wasn’t anything serious, but I won’t know until we get back to Carlisle. I would imagine we’ll get him scanned so we can get a proper diagnosis on it.”

United were without Corey Whelan and Magnus Norman to illness for their Good Friday game.

Manager Simpson added: “Corey missed Monday’s game at Stockport through illness. He’s been out for a light jog yesterday, he’s going to do something again today and we’ll see how he is over the weekend, but he’s been struggling.

“It’s not Covid – he’s negative with his tests.

“Mags we thought had some food poisoning on Monday after the Stockport game but he’s still struggling with it now, can’t shake it off, whether it’s anything else I don’t know.

“But we had to make a decision that those tow weren’t going to travel. We couldn’t have them around, we travelled with the 18 we needed, and we’ll see how they are for Monday.”

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