Shrewsbury Town midfielder Bryn Morris is set to be on the sidelines for around six weeks with a knee injury.
Bryn picked up the injury against AFC Telford United in pre-season, but had been managing it until recently.
Manager Paul Hurst admitted it was a blow to lose Morris, who started the season opener against Northampton Town.
“Bryn’s struggling”, said Paul.
“It looks like he’s going to require an operation, so that’s not good news for us. That’s the first really bad bit of news for us on the injury front.
“Surgery’s required, so at the minute the estimation is that he will be out for six weeks. We sent him away just to check, but it wasn’t good news.
“As of Monday, Bryn was due to be available. Then we took the decision on Monday evening to send him away for a scan and unfortunately it wasn’t good news.”