IT was entirely understandable that Kilmarnock insisted Rabiu Ibrahim undergo every possible test to get to the bottom what caused the winger to pass out against Ross County three weeks ago.
There have been too many still-vivid football tragedies to act in any other manner. Fortunately, though, the 22-year-old Nigerian has returned to training and has been cleared by medical staff and sports specialists to play again, following a thorough series of tests.
"I am feeling fine and just glad to be back," said Ibrahim. "Looking back on that game it is a strange feeling now. Just before I went down I had a bad headache. I sat down on the pitch and then fainted."
He had known that something was wrong: his touch was off and he was a step behind the action. "I didn't feel right that Saturday although I knew everything that was going on," he said. "I wasn't able to control the ball, to concentrate properly. When I chased some guy with the ball I just felt so ill."
In the end, extensive tests failed to determine the cause of the problem. "I've never had anything like that happen to me before in my life," he said. "That's why it was so scary. The medics have told me since that I was not responding to what they were asking me. I am fit and healthy; no-one in my family ever had anything like this either and they were all worried for me too."
When Ibrahim last played, the Rugby Park side were still without a victory and a fearless young Hearts team were attacking their 15-point administration deficit with vigour. The Tynecastle youngsters have since plummeted back to where they started, and Kilmarnock have recorded two home victories to ease supporters' fragile nerves.
Ibrahim is now happy to put the incident behind him and help Allan Johnston's side climb the table. "Sometimes in someone's life this can happen," he said. "But I am not worried about it happening again. I am hoping to play but it will depend on the manager. It won't feel strange to be playing again, it will feel good."
Tommy Wright, the St Johnstone manager, is concerned about the threat of the in-form Kris Boyd up front. "He [Allan Johnston] is getting players fit," the Northern Irishman said. "And in Kris Boyd you have someone you have to be very wary of because he is in good form at the moment and obviously he has always had an eye for a goal.
"He gets a lot of his goals from inside the box so you hope that you mark him in the box. But also you maybe defend a little bit higher up the pitch and try to cut the supply to him as well."
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