Dunfermline Athletic manager James McPake described Kane Ritchie-Hosler’s injury as a “nightmare” for the player.
The 21-year-old Pars star missed the start of the season with an ankle injury that required surgery.
Ritchie-Hosler made his return in the recent draw at Inverness but has picked up an unrelated knee injury in the same leg which also requires him to go under the knife.
“I’m just really disappointed for the lad,” said McPake, “he can’t catch any luck whatsoever.
“But we will get behind him and back him again, but it is a really unfortunate one for him.
Kane Ritchie-Hosler out for around six weeks
“He will be out for six weeks anyway, it’s a tidy-up on his knee. Potentially longer than that, I would need to double-check.
“That should get done in the middle of next week. It is his meniscus in the same leg as his ankle injury, but completely unrelated but I do feel for him.
“We will back him and he will back himself to come back and when he does come back it will be like a new player again which we got back at Inverness for too short a period.
“He blocked a shot in training and just twisted his knee. It is a nightmare really for the boy.
“When he gets back and gets another injury – I have been in that position so I can relate to that, you can understand that. We have looked at everything, there is nothing you can do to try and prevent it. ”
Dunfermline Athletic team news
Deniz Mehmet has stepped up his recovery and should join training next week and Rhys Breen isn’t far behind.
Matty Todd is now out of his moon boot but captain Kyle Benedictus is still in his.
The good news is that Craig Wighton will return this weekend, following an injury.
As will Ben Summers, Harry Sharp and Sam Fisher who missed last weekend’s SPFL Trust Trophy defeat through international duty, intelligibility and suspension respectively.
Dunfermline Athletic on their way to Hampden
Alex Jakubiak is also in line to make his debut as the Pars travel to Hampden to take on Queen’s Park in the Championship.
“The surface will be good, it looked good the other night [during the Scotland v England game] anyway, and it’s a nice grass pitch,” added the Dunfermline boss.
“So, when we turn up, it’s just another grass pitch, against another team.
“The lack of atmosphere is the thing, but we’re used to that because we had games last season where we had to make our own atmosphere.
“It’s a club I follow with a wee bit of interest and they’re a good side.”
