TENBURY United captain Mike Foster will be out until the new year after picking up a serious knee injury.

Foster came off against Hinton in last Saturday's Herefordshire Football League Premier Division match shortly before half-time.

Joint United manager Nick Stocker said he feared the worst as soon as Foster left the field.

"He has got to have more scans, but the first analysis is that we are looking at next year before he will be playing again," said Stocker.

"It is not looking good and will be a massive loss because he's our skipper.

"Luckily we are ok in his position because Dale Withers, Sam Williams and Lee Millichip can all play in centre-midfield."

Foster was replaced by 15-year-old schoolboy Harry Moran, who Stocker has very high hopes for.

"We have an agreement in that he can play if Ryan Morris doesn't because Harry is one of his students," said Stocker.

"He is a fantastic player though and is a great prospect for the future.

"He is big and strong for a 15-year-old and has everything going for him."

Tenbury were also without the services of Millichip last Saturday and struggled to have an attacking threat.

The defeat leaves Tenbury just a point above the bottom of the table and they face basement club Ross Juniors this Saturday.

Stocker says that the team will be looking to pick up maximum points in their next four games if they want to be challenging near the top of the table.

"We have got Ross twice and Leominster twice and I think we have to win all four games," said Stocker.

"We have to start getting better results."

Hinton opened the scoring in the 66th minute when Brad Matthews delicately lifted the ball over Tenbury goalkeeper Sean Baldwin from just outside the area.

Callum Ditchfield then sealed the win for the Hereford side 10 minutes from time from the penalty spot after Gaz Edwards upended Drew Drewezski.

Stocker was disappointed with Tenbury's lack of firepower.

“We started really well and felt we were on top for the first 20 to 25 minutes but we just couldn’t get the goal," he said.

“We probably didn’t even test their goalkeeper throughout the 90 minutes, which is a bit disappointing.

"We've goals in in us, it's just trying to find a formation that suits the players.

"It is disappointing after such a good result against Inkberrow Reserves the previous week.

"I thought Hinton were poor and we should be beating teams like that if we want to be aiming for the top four or five."