Kelty Hearts boss Tam O'Ware says that they "can't feel sorry" for themselves after revealing four players are set for significant injury lay-offs.
Dylan Corr, Ryan Shanley, Finn Moffett, and Theo McCormick, are also set to be sidelined for a lengthy period of time, he has revealed.
O'Ware was speaking following Tuesday night's KDM Evolution Trophy victory at Cumbernauld Colts, thanks to an early Jamie Hislop brace, and a late Zack Flatman header.
That gave the Maroon Machine their second victory from three outings in the competition, but of more concern was the news they will be without some key matches, for an extended period.
Shanley, who has scored five goals in 10 games since signing from Stirling Albion in the summer, missed Saturday's League Two win over Annan Athletic, after rolling his ankle in training.
He joined Moore, who has been out since being forced off in last month's home victory over Dumbarton, and Corr, who hasn't played since the opening league match of the season after picking up a knee injury in training.
They have now been joined on the sidelines by Moffett, after he was injured against Annan, and on-loan St Mirren youngster, Theo McCormick, whose sole appearance was as a substitute, at Stranraer, at the end of August.
The latest issues come with O'Ware also having to do without club captain, Craig Johnston, who is out for the season due to a cruciate ligament injury sustained in January.
"The injury list is growing again," O'Ware explained after the win at Broadwood.
"Shanley will be out, I think, six to eight weeks.
"Moorey, he's missed the last couple of weeks, he'll be another 2-3 weeks probably.
"Finn Moffett went for an x-ray on Saturday night. There's no break, but probably will be six to eight weeks, and Dylan Corr's a much longer-term injury.
"Theo McCormick as well, is going to be out for about eight to 10 weeks.
"It's frustrating, because there's some key starting players there, but we've got a decent group, and we need to use what we have.
"It's not something that we're going to look at and feel sorry for ourselves."
Having lost their last outing in the KDM Evolution Trophy, at home to Clydebank, after a 4-3 win over Motherwell 'B', there was cheer on the pitch at least for Kelty.
Hislop, on loan from Ayr United, fired them into a second minute lead, before, straight from the restart, capitalising on a loose pass to run into the box and double it.
In stoppage time, 19-year-old Flatman scored his first goal for the club, heading in Ross Cunningham's corner at the far post, to complete a convincing success over the Lowland League West side.
"I thought we started excellent," O'Ware noted.
"We pressed forward, capitalised on a couple of errors, and the play for one of the goals was excellent.
"To get the two goals in the first three minutes was pleasing.
"The next 20 minutes was excellent, and then I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, slightly, with the performance.
"I feel like, the two goals, it's almost like the mindset was like, right, we've done enough.
"That shouldn't be the case."
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