Cardiff City's Des Hamilton will miss the rest of the season because of a knee injury.
The former Newcastle midfielder was forced to leave the filed after twisting his knee during the second half of Cardiff's FAW Premier Cup semi-final win over Wrexham on Tuesday.
Further examination on Wednesday discovered severe cartilage damage which will force Hamilton to miss Cardiff's promotion push.
Since arriving at Cardiff last summer, Hamilton has suffered a dreadful run of bad luck with injury which has prevented him from finding his best form.
With Josh Low also injured in the Wrexham match, manager Lennie Lawrence now faces a major headache in filling the right wing-back role.
"It was a good experience on Tuesday because we had a lot of young professionals playing," said Lawrence. "But it was costly.
"It wasn't a dirty game and the referee was fine. It was just unfortunate that we lost Des with a cartilage and Josh with a hamstring.
"We're still waiting for news on Leighton Maxwell who took a knock on his calf; Paul Brayson also got a kick but he should be fine for Saturday.
Before these injuries, Lawrence had been searching for goalkeeper to take on loan.
But he said his priority has now switched firmly to finding a quality midfielder.
"I doubt we'll be able get someone in for Saturday," said Lawrence. "But whoever comes in needs to be in for the Wrexham game (Friday, 22 March).
"The following Thursday is the transfer deadline so I don't want to be rushing about at the last minute."
