Dean Brill is unlikely to play for Leyton Orient again this season after suffering a hamstring injury in training.
The 34-year-old was not in the squad for the win over Cambridge United and only made the bench for the two previous League Two games.
Brill will undergo surgery on his injury and will begin a rehabilitation period.
Interim head coach Ross Embleton told the club website: “Obviously Dean’s come out of the team in the last couple of weeks but it is easy to forget the quality of the man, the quality of the player and professional.
“It has been nothing short of remarkable what Dean Brill has done since coming in as goalkeeper coach, to pick up his gloves and start playing again, to win a league and find himself back playing in the Football League again.”
In his post-match comments on Saturday, Embleton already alluded to the fact that Brill had suffered an injury and suggested that the club may need to dip into the transfer market for a goalkeeper to challenge Sam Sargeant and Arthur Janata.
He said: “First and foremost, albeit Sarge has been fantastic in the games that he’s played, if we’re going to have Deano out of the squad, it’s certainly going to be a position that we’ve got to look at.
“We’d like to do something permanent to give us some backup to Sarge and someone to test him because, not that he’s that type of character, I don’t want him to sit back and take it easy. We need him to be challenged and Arthur can do that.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here