Alex Reid is facing a race against time to be fit before the end of the season.

The Latics striker has been sidelined by a hamstring injury, with initial scans revealing that recovery could take up to six weeks.

But while manager David Unsworth is not ruling out Reid returning at some stage in final 10 games of the campaign, the uncertainty has prompted another look at the transfer market.

With Chris Porter and Hallam Hope both long-term absentees, and Hope suffering a minor set-back in his rehabilitation from the knee injury he suffered in January, Unsworth has expressed concerns about being light up front. And National League clubs have just one week remaining to add to their squad before the March 23 cut-off.

"It's a big blow for us losing Alex. I'm absolutely gutted not just for the team but for Alex as well. I felt he'd found his form and he was looking like the player we all know and love," said the Latics boss.

"You never give an exact time but it does look like he could be touch and go now for the rest of the season. It's looking like four to six weeks.

"But I've not written him off for the rest of the season, there are still 10 games to go. We'll just see how he's progressing every week and he'll probably have another scan.

"Hamstrings are funny things. The scar tissue that they leave behind can be a problem, the difference between doing something from one day to the next can set you back. They are a nightmare injury and we must treat it with caution.

"Thankfully no surgery is required. He will be absolutely fine, it's just when we bring him back and how we bring him back, we've got to be really careful.

"In terms of how he's presenting and how he's working and what the scan says there is a bit of a contradiction.

"You basically have to follow the scan and treat it very cautiously. Hamstrings are a horrible injury and they kid you on because within a week he'll be presenting absolutely fine and you feel great, but as soon as you take off and sprint it's just not healed enough.

"It's a difficult one because he felt it a few weeks ago and we took him out of it for a couple of games just to rest it and give him some healing time, and he's come back and been really sharp.

"We were asking him towards the end of his last game (against Woking) if he was okay and he said he was fine, and then he woke up the next morning and the day after and he felt something was not quite right.

"Hamstrings are really difficult injuries to diagnose and pick up on and to treat in terms of knowing when you're going to come back. And Alex is an explosive player, he plays on the shoulder, he's quick, he wants to run in behind, so his game is based on power and speed and his hamstring is paramount to his game."

As for where that leaves Latics ahead of Saturday's trip to Dagenham and Redbridge, and the remaining 10 games, Unsworth added: "There's the potential for maybe going into the market. We're having a look at one or two things.

"We've got a couple of irons in the fire.

"But the lads are doing fine. I would only bring a player in at this stage of the season, after what the lads have done, with a view to maybe working with them in the future or having a look at them for potentially working with us.

"I wouldn't just bring in a stop gap now to the end of the season, I don't think that's right. If anybody does come in it will be for the future or to have a look at them for the future, so we'll see.

"We've got Chris Porter missing and Alex Reid now missing, and Hallam Hope has had a little bit of a setback.

"I'd like to be a bit heavier in the striker department in terms of numbers, so we'll have a look."