On-loan striker Waide Fairhurst appears certain to have made his final appearance in Shrewsbury Town colours.

Fairhurst scored the fourth goal of his loan spell from Doncaster in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Macclesfield.

That came in first half injury time but the 20-year-old was replaced by Omer Riza at the interval as he struggled with a foot problem sustained in the opening period.

That injury is likely to leave him sidelined for three weeks, starting with this afternoon’s trip to Bradford.

But with Fairhurst due to return to his parent club next week, it appears Town supporters have seen the last of the diminutive forward.

“Waide is out for about three weeks now,” said Town boss Paul Simpson.

“His loan is up on January 2 so I don’t think we will see him back again.

“He kicked the ground early on in the half and strained ligaments in the top of his foot.

“It’s very painful at the moment so we have to see how that settles down.”

Meanwhile, Town made the trip to Bradford today attempting to halt a run which has yielded just two wins in the last 15 matches.

Shrewsbury were forced to settle for a point from the Boxing Day visit of Macclesfield, Dave Hibbert earning a share of the spoils with a 96th minute equaliser on a day when all four goals came in injury time.

And Simpson admitted his side are badly short of belief.

“The players are lacking in confidence and because of that, they make bad decisions and have poor quality in delivery,” he added.

“There is a fear there at the moment but as a footballer you have to get over that. We can lift them as much as we can, praise them and give them as much information as possible but they need to get the fear out themselves.”

By JAMES GARRISON