Town boss Kieran McKenna has revealed striker George Hirst will undergo surgery on a ruptured hamstring this week and will miss most of the rest of the season.
Hirst limped off in the first half of the 1-1 draw with his former club Leicester City on Boxing Day.
"George is seeing a surgeon this week for a repair to a rupture of his hamstring, so it will be certainly the very, very back end of the season before he will be eligible,” McKenna said.
Quizzed on whether that would increase the urgency when it comes to bringing someone in in January, he said: "Not really, it doesn’t increase the urgency because he was always going to be right at the very end of the season.
"We wanted to add and we need to add quality to the squad to keep improving the squad in every window. We want to keep adding goals and goal threats in their different guises, centre-forward and other type of forward players as well. That’s one priority.
"We were going to look to do that without George’s injury and then when the striker who has been playing all the games is ruled out for the large majority of the season, that increases the importance.
"But it’s not about urgency, it’s about getting in the right player or players, who can help us for the rest of the season and maybe beyond.”
Hirst, 24, has been a key man in the Town side, scoring six times this season, since signing from the Foxes in the summer following a successful loan at the end of last season.