Shrewsbury striker Ryan Bowman back in training and given medication after heart checks

Bowman came off with heart palpitations half an hour into the visitors' 2-1 defeat at Portman Road, where medical staff and doctors had to shock his heart back into a beat and the Town man was rushed to hospital.

The striker, 29, was released from Ipswich hospital later that evening and has undergone further testing and met with a cardiology specialist this week.

It is not the first time the former Exeter frontman has experienced a heart issue, although the previous occasion was on a far lesser scale during training at his old club.

Bowman – who boss Steve Cotterill described as one of the fittest players at the club – has been provided with medication should the episode arise again. The Town boss revealed there has been no lasting effects on the striker's heart and that Bowman will need to build himself up again in training.

The Shrews chief was extremely grateful to the support of Ipswich staff, including their club doctor who identified Bowman's heart rate – which had raced to 250 beats-per-minute – and said Shrewsbury would be 'forever thankful'.

Cotterill, whose side welcome sixth-placed MK Dons in League One on Saturday, said: "He's OK, thankfully, he's had tests earlier in the week.

"We don't want to say it's a freak because he has had an episode of that before, but now he's got medication.

"He had his heart shocked back into beat by the people at Ipswich, which was really good, I need to give a big shout to all the people at Ipswich, they were first class during the incident.

"I spoke to Paul Cook, to ask who their doc was, their doc went on, understand where Ryan was, how many beats-per-minute was going, which was too many, and looking after him and getting him to hospital.

"And afterwards we were sitting around for a good few hours to see if we could take him home with us, which we couldn't, so then Gregg (Jones, sports therapist) and Rory (McVicar, kitman) brought him back.

"Ipswich were talking about bringing him back on Sunday if we'd needed to go, so a big thank you to them, they were incredibly good and we'll be forever thankful.

Cotterill admitted Bowman was relieved to be back in training and that the episode did not prove any more serious.

Further testing showed up clear and Town's summer recruit has not been diagnosed with any heart condition.

"You don't want to get to a stage where you can't do anything to help him," he added.

"We speak about other things but the one thing we do need to keep banging is our heart, and thankfully his one strong enough to overcome the episode.

"He trained this morning for the first time, he's got the medication now that if anything like that happens again he has to take straight away.

"There's no longer lasting damage to his heart, which is always a bonus, so we just need to wait and see how he is, he's got to get a little bit of training under his belt now. He seems relieved, like we all would."