Dunfermline Athletic youngster Andrew Tod has suffered a serious knee injury.
The 18-year-old picked up the issue in the opening seconds of the Pars’ reserve win over Dundee United on Tuesday.
It has been diagnosed as damage to the medial collateral ligament (MCL) on the inside of his knee.
It is a fairly common knee injury and does not usually require surgery.
The midfielder will be re-assessed by the East End Park medical team in the coming days to determine the severity of the problem.
But it is likely he will be sidelined for anywhere between three weeks and two months depending on the prognosis.
It is a blow for both the player and East Fife, where the youngster has been on loan since September.
Dunfermline boss James McPake said: “Hopefully it’s better than certainly we first expected.
Pars midfielder to be assessed
“It only happened a minute into the game and I was just walking into the ground, but it doesn’t look great on film either.
“But hopefully it’s not as severe as we thought.
“It is an MCL injury in his knee. Hopefully over the next couple of days it settles and we can get it assessed more.
“They can be quite difficult to repair with surgery and with not really good results. So, it’s unlikely he’ll have an operation. But we’ll get it assessed anyway and see.”
Meanwhile, Dunfermline will make a decision on Friday as to Lewis McCann’s availability for Saturday’s Scottish Cup clash with Edinburgh City.
The striker has a hamstring injury and was forced to sit out last weekend’s 1-0 defeat away to Ayr United.
The 23-year-old had been hitting form, scoring the winning goal in each of his last two matches and three in his last six outings.
But, whilst admitting the marksman was missed against Ayr, McPake is wary of pushing for his return.
“He’ll train on Friday before I make a decision,” he added.
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