The Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear is expected to be kept under observation over the weekend after being taken to hospital with chest pains before his team's away match against Sheffield Wednesday.

Kinnear, 52, is believed to have suffered a minor heart attack and was visited by the Wimbledon owner Sam Hammam at Sheffield Northern General Hospital yesterday.

A hospital spokesman said: "He's reasonably comfortable and I have chatted to him a couple of times. He's sitting up and he could be under observation for longer than 24 hours. When Mr Kinnear came in he had chest pains and was felling very unwell but he's now stable." Colleagues claimed yesterday that the pains could have been brought on by the pressures of management, particularly as Wimbledon have been going through a bad run until Wednesday night when they won 21.

Efan Ekoku, who scored the opening goal of the game said yesterday that the players were only told that Kinnear had been taken to hospital after the match had finished. He added: "Fortunately we had a good result, and that will hopefully speed up Joe's recovery.