Peterhead manager Jim McInally fears midfielder Hamish Ritchie sustained a cruciate ligament injury against Aberdeen.
Ritchie was stretchered off at the start of the second half of the 2-0 defeat on Sunday after a collision with Ross McCrorie.
He had looked like one of the Blue Toon’s most accomplished performers in the first half but saw his afternoon cut short in cruel fashion.
It comes at a bad time for Peterhead, who are already short of bodies in the middle of the park and McInally’s immediate thoughts were for Ritchie.
“It’s not good,” he said. “That’s all I’m thinking about. It’s hard to think a lot of positives because he’s possibly got a cruciate injury.
“Cruciate injuries are sometimes innocuous but he’s heard a crack, which is obviously a negative. We’ll hope and pray it’s not that but it looks like it could be.
“I’m not feeling sorry for myself as far as numbers go, it’s more for the boy. We’ll sort something out and we’ll fill the team up.”
The League One side performed admirably for much of the game against their more illustrious opponents, only wilting late on after Christian Ramirez’s brace.
New arrival Jack Newman was the star man for the home side, impressing on his Peterhead debut. Newman had only arrived on Saturday on loan from Dundee United to filling a pressing need for McInally.
“That’s exactly why clubs want players to go out on loan,” he added. “I’d have loved to say it was a masterstroke but I hadn’t seen him play.
“He came highly-recommended by the coaches at Dundee United; Craig Hinchliffe (United goalkeeping coach) phoned me and he’s delighted we’ve got him because he sees the potential he’s got.
“With a season under his belt, he might be ready to go out and play.”
Peterhead were only able to name three outfield substitutes and one of them was a half-fit Ryan Strachan. McInally felt in the circumstances he had to pleased with what his side offered.
“I’ve got to be happy because we shaped up the way we would play yesterday and it wasn’t very exciting for the people watching,” said McInally. “I just felt under the circumstances it was the best we could do.
“It was warm so to try and press high up the park would have only made it tougher for us. We tried to sit in and counter a wee bit and we did OK, we didn’t give them many chances.
“We could have scored against the run of play but it still would have been tough for us, as we were getting tired.”