Sittingbourne striker Shaun Brown is set for a long spell on the sidelines.

Brown suffered a knee injury in the Brickies' FA Cup defeat at Bognor Regis last month and will require an operation.

Manager Chris Lynch said: "It's his ACL and he'll need an op so he'll be out for at least three or four months, maybe longer.

"We're just waiting on a date for the operation but it's a killer to lose him, hence why we brought Sid Sollis in last week and I'm probably looking to add one more if we can.

"We're looking around and we'll see who's available."

Sittingbourne had a bye in the FA Trophy last weekend and are without a game this Saturday as scheduled opponents Whyteleafe are still in the FA Cup.

They were due to play Bearsted in a friendly last night (Tuesday) and Lynch is looking to arrange another practice match to replace the Whyteleafe fixture.

He's welcomed the break from Isthmian South East action given the lengthy injury list.

Lynch said: "It's good for us because we've had so many players out injured and it gives us a bit of time to get some back and get a couple of training sessions in with them.

"We're still carrying three or four but it's not seven or eight like it was.

"We've got Shaun Brown, then there's Adam Woollcott, who's looking at a couple of weeks with hid ankle, and Sid Sollis has a light leg injury which could be a week-and-a-half.

"Manny Ndaw's just done a hamstring, which will be three-and-a-half weeks, but Lewis Chambers is returning from a back injury and Kane Phillip is coming back from a thigh injury.

"Chris Webber is also back after missing a couple of weeks for a commitment which we agreed last year.

"As you can see, it's a lot of players and that's why we've had three straight losses by one goal.

"When we're back to full fitness we'll be straight back up the league, like we should be."

There's good news on long-term injury victim Tom Loynes, who is set to resume light training after a knee operation.

The winger is a key player for Sittingbourne but was injured soon after Lynch's arrival in January and hasn't played since.

Lynch said: "He's back in light training this week but he's not going to be ready to take an active part in a match scenario for a couple of months.

"He's having extensive physio and after that we'll give him three or four games in the development squad to see how he gets on.

"It's just a case of getting him fit. That's the issue where he's been out so long."

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