Brechin City striker Dene Shields is to get a scan on his injured knee.
Shields came off with seven minutes remaining of last week’s 2-1 derby loss to Montrose after catching his studs in the turf as he turned.
He had only been on the pitch for seven minutes as a substitute as City tried to find an equaliser at Links Park.
Shields will miss today’s League One match against Dumbarton at Glebe Park and could be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Manager Darren Dods said: “He will get a scan next week and the big hope is that he doesn’t need surgery.
“It is a real setback for Dene and for the club.
“He went to turn and his studs got caught and you knew straight away that it was a serious one.
“So he will definitely miss out against Dumbarton, along with defenders Paul McLean and Jordan Tapping.”
Even had he not been hit by the Shields injury blow, Dods would still have been looking to add to his squad.
Ideally, he would have liked that to happen before the clash with the Sons but it now looks likely that the transfer activity will come next week.
Dods added: “Work is still going on behind the scenes to try and bring in new faces.
“The loan market is challenging, with-full time clubs looking for strong money for young players.
“We have to weigh that up and make decisions against our already stretched budget.
“We acknowledge that full-time clubs will rightly want to finalise their own playing squads before agreeing loan deals.
“This means that if we are successful, and given the closure of the transfer window next week, we are more likely to add to our squad before heading to Arbroath next weekend rather than in time for Dumbarton.”
Dods is looking for this players to bounce back from that derby defeat but knows Dumbarton will test them.
He said: “We did run them close at times last season in the Championship but they are one of the favourites for promotion from this division so it will be tough.”