Jason Thomson may have played his final game for Dunfermline after the on-loan Hearts man was ruled out for two months with a groin injury.
The 24-year-old missed out on the trip to Easter Road at the weekend, as a solitary Austin McCann goal secured a 1-0 win over Hibs drawing a veil over a miserable nine-game winless run.
However celebrations at East End Park have been tempered after scans showed the full-back has suffered a double groin tear.
Thomson’s loan deal expires on January 1, meaning he is unlikely to regain fitness for Jim McIntyre’s side before his scheduled return to Tynecastle.
Pars boss Jim McIntyre said: ”Jason has two tears to the muscle around his groin area. That type of injury will keep him out, the doctors say, for at least eight weeks.
”The loan only takes us to the transfer window so we will have to see what happens in the future.”
Thomson has impressed in his brief spell at Dunfermline, playing 13 times for the Pars and cementing a regular place in the first team the aim when Jim Jefferies sent the full-back to Fife at the start of the campaign.
He scored his first senior goal against Kilmarnock in September.
It remains to be seen whether the player will come into the thinking of current Hearts boss Paulo Sergio come January. If not, Dunfermline could be keen to extend the player’s loan spell.