Peterhead boss Jim McInally faces an injury headache ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Airdrie.
Jack Leitch, Cammy Eadie and Simon Ferry are out, while defender Mick Dunlop is struggling with a hip problem.
Striker Derek Lyle should be fit to feature after recovering from an Achilles issue but the Blue Toon manager expects to be light on bodies at Balmoor.
He has been on the lookout for new additions but has found the free-agent market less than fruitful.
McInally said: “Players are hard to come by. There’s still two or three players out there looking for full-time deals. We just need to hope that one of them is on the lookout for something.
“You’re often in the hunt but there’s a few teams in for these guys.
“It’s a bit easier in League 2 when you’re top of the league and there’s a chance of winning something. This league is a battle – when you look at the table, it doesn’t matter if you’re three points off fourth or five points off the bottom. It doesn’t look as good.
“As long as we have three subs, as that’s all we can use anyway.”
Peterhead are one of several clubs interested in winger Daniel Armstrong, who was released by Ross County in the summer and has been training with Dunfermline. They were also keen on teenager Isaac McLean, who hails from nearby Stuartfield and was let go by Aberdeen in the summer, but he appears set to join Inverness. The club let midfielders Liam Macdonald and Ross Willox go out on loan to Huntly and Fraserburgh respectively, in order to get game time.
The Blue Toon come up against full-time opposition this weekend in Airdrie and bar their two results against Raith Rovers, in which they lost 3-1 and 4-0, they have fared well against full-time opposition with draws against Dundee, Caley Thistle and Falkirk.
McInally added: “We know they’re a sharp team and have a got a bit of pace about them.
“Hopefully we get back to basics and set up accordingly, as we would against any full-time team.
“We need to be more solid than we have been. In hindsight, when I look at the goals from last Saturday, three of them came from 25 to 30 yards and another from a corner. There are aspects of the game we need to do better.”
