SWINDON Town are hoping to get to the bottom of a mystery illness that saw James Brophy depart Saturday’s game at half-time.

The Town full-back had to be replaced by Bradley Barry after complaining of a shortness in breath during the first period of the match with Walsall.

It is not the first time that the illness has affected Brophy this term, the 22-year-old was also brought off at half-time during the home fixture with Bristol Rovers after coming over dizzy in the dressing room.

Head coach Luke Williams says he will not risk the health of the defender while they try to get to the root of the problem, which could see Brophy miss Saturday’s trip to Scunthorpe United.

“James was struggling to breathe at half time; his chest was tight,” said Williams, who will also be without Barry, who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season moments after coming on at the County Ground on Saturday.

“He’s had this condition recently before, which we can’t take any chances with because it is hard for the doctor to know exactly what is going on there even though we have had plenty of tests.

“James’ symptoms seemed to go away so he returned to full training but he has had a recurrence and it something that we cannot risk and if he can’t breathe, he is not going to be much good on the pitch.”

Meanwhile, Swindon will not have further reinforcements up front heading to the league leaders on Saturday, with Williams stating that they were no longer pursuing the unnamed triallist who scored twice in a development game against Peterborough United.

Despite chairman Lee Power stating before the Walsall game that no decision would be made until that evening, Williams had clearly made his mind up in the post-match press conference, with fitness being the main issue.

Williams has often stated that players like Sean Murray and Luke Norris are not up to match fitness following their arrivals in the summer and believes they cannot afford to wait to get another player up to speed.

“I think (he is) another player who has got real ability, we can see that, but some fitness levels are not where they need to be,” said Williams.

“It is fair to say that there are one too many in the squad that are trying to get up to full fitness and it is probably a factor why we didn’t take it any further.”

Town are due to travel to Exeter City for a development game this afternoon.