DAVID Mellor will not be rushed back into action as further investigations are carried out after he fainted this week and was found to have an irregular heartbeat.

The central midfielder underwent an ECG, which detected the irregular heartbeat, after he passed out during training on Tuesday.

According to Barrow’s head therapist Dan Anderton, irregular heartbeats are not uncommon and he said that the ECG did not identify anything hospital staff were worried about it.

But the issue needs to be investigated further.

On Monday, Mellor will see the same cardiologist he met with a couple of years ago, when he suffered a similar episode during his time at Oldham Athletic.

He is likely to undergo more rigorous ‘stress tests’ with his heart monitored while he is running, etc.

The aim of the precautionary tests is to monitor Mellor’s heart in a more stressful situation, rather than carrying out a test when he is lying in bed.

Mellor certainly will not feature in Barrow’s National League home game with Boreham Wood tomorrow (3pm kick-off).

Bluebirds boss Paul Cox said: “From what I’m hearing, Mells could be out for a considerable amount of time, until we at least get more medical advice on what’s causing this.

“It was quite a scary incident, if I’m being honest.

“We were training and Mells passed out and collapsed.

“In this day and age with this sudden death syndrome – you’ve seen it on football pitches and the Fabrice Muamba scenario – it was very worrying, not just to myself and my staff, but to the other players as well.

“Our thoughts are with him at the moment. I hope he gets a good response from the specialist.

“At the end of the day, there are things that are more important than football, and a player’s health is more important at this minute in time.

“We’ve got to give him as much time and support as possible.”

When Mellor suffered a similar problem at Oldham, tests proved to be fairly inconclusive and nothing showed up that required intervention.

He was cleared to resume training and to play in matches.

“Lots of people have an irregular heartbeat and it’s not an issue,” said Anderton.

“But we are erring on the side of caution, it’s best to be safe. We’re sending him to this cardiologist, the guy who knows all about David from his Oldham days.

“Anything that is related to the heart, we need to be really robust with the tests that we do.

“We need to make sure that he sees the right person, and the right person for him to see is the cardiologist on Monday. Just for Dave’s safety we need to make sure that we don’t put him back into training until it’s safe to do so.

“But the ECG didn’t show up anything alarming or that we need to be worried about.

“The ECG detected an irregular heartbeat, but that can be pretty common. However, with David being a footballer, his heart-rate is going to be under more pressure than if he was an office-based worker.”

Barrow are facing up to an injury crisis, and central midfielder Mo Fofana has been recalled from his loan spell with Oxford City.

Fellow engine-room operator Paddy Lacey may require surgery after an attempt to unlock his injured knee, by manipulation, failed on Wednesday.

He will see a consultant this morning when his knee may be scanned. A decision should then be taken on the next course of action, with Anderton initially suspecting that Lacey has suffered a cartilage tear.

Winger Andy Haworth could be sidelined for three or four weeks after suffering ankle ligament damage and a stress fracture in his foot.

Danny Livesey should be ruled out of tomorrow’s game as he continues his recovery from a groin injury.

Fellow centre-back Simon Grand broke his nose in training this week, but he should receive a protective facial mask today. Tomorrow’s match referee apparently needs to approve the protective aid for Grand to get the green light to line up against Boreham.

Despite the deadline for loan moves expiring last week, Cox believes he may still be able to loan players from clubs that operate below National League league level.

He has a number of potential targets in mind and could even try and act before the Boreham Wood clash. Requiring a new central midfielder, Cox will have to get the go-ahead from club owner Paul Casson should he want to make a move.

Striker Andy Cook been suffering from a flu-like illness this week, but he trained yesterday and should be available to play tomorrow.