MYSTERY: Ibrahim is taken off the pitch [JAMES WILLIAMSON]

KILMARNOCK’S Rabiu Ibrahim was kept in hospital last night as doctors tried to discover what caused the midfielder to pass out during Saturday’s 2-0 Premiership victory over Ross County.

The 23-year-old Nigerian went to ground after 34 minutes with Killie 1-0 up and was taken off on a stretcher, above, his eyes reportedly rolling, to be rushed to University Hospital Crosshouse, a five-minute drive from Rugby Park.

Manager Allan Johnston visited him last night and said: “They’re keeping him in tonight to do further tests. He’s feeling fine so, hopefully, that is a good sign. I watched the DVD of the game again and there was no one near him when it
happened.

“He just sits down in the middle of the park and then he lies down but nobody touched him so it clearly wasn’t an injury.”While Ibrahim lay on the Rugby Park turf, fans were inevitably reminded of the close call for Bolton’s England Under-21 midfielder Fabrice Muamba, who suffered a cardiac arrest during a match against Tottenham at White Hart Lane in March, 2012.

Muamba’s heart stopped for 78 minutes and it was two days before it began beating independently.Although he was released from hospital a month later, he was advised to retire in August, at the age of just 24.