RHYS BREEN is set to be assessed by specialists to determine the seriousness of an injury that sidelined him at the weekend.

The Dunfermline centre back was taken off early in the second half of the recent draw with FC Edinburgh, on March 18, and was absent from the squad for Saturday's 3-1 win at Montrose.

Breen, who has made 34 appearances in all competitions this season for the League One leaders, picked up a suspected hamstring problem, and, providing an update, boss James McPake told Press Sport earlier this week: "We're speaking to specialists on that and we'll see what the diagnosis on the recovery from them is.

"We'll support Breeny in whatever way we can."

There was, however, better news on Matty Todd, who was forced off earlier in the same match, with McPake confirming that he was "progressing well", and that they would assess whether he could feature against Kelty Hearts on Saturday later in the week.

The absence of Breen and Todd were two of five changes McPake made to his starting line-up at Links Park, one of which included only a third start for on-loan Motherwell winger, Robbie Mahon.

The 19-year-old Irishman (pictured below) impressed, playing a key role in Dunfermline's second goal, when his surging run to release Lewis McCann led to the forward's effort being pushed onto the bar, from which Craig Wighton stooped to head home.

Dunfermline Press:

"Robbie's been excellent since he came in," McPake continued.

"I've said it quite widely in the press, it's tough. Kane was another in those situations, when you're coming out and praising them every week, and they're not getting the game time that they feel they're expecting, but Robbie was excellent.

"He's trained brilliant, he's a good character, he's great round about the place, and he's just kept working hard and shown how good an attitude he's got.

"I enjoyed watching him on Saturday. He did pretty well.

"We see them every day in training and training is demanding. There is a really good standard there that's set by the players. If they're not performing in training, they don't even need to hear it from myself or Dave (Mackay, McPake's assistant); there's enough players there that are quick to pull their team-mates.

"But we've got that good a group, that never really happens. They understand it's a squad game and we've got some really good players.

"You just look at our bench from Saturday; you've got a player on there in Paul McGowan who's played 550 games. You look at Chris Mochrie, I think he's got 70 senior appearances, at a completely different stage in his career, but real quality sat on the bench, along with others.

"That's been the case for a lot of the season. We do understand that when players do miss out, they'll be disappointed, but they come back in on the Sunday or the Monday, they train really hard, and they can get on with the week.

"That's what makes a successful team."