The forward went down screaming in pain after landing awkwardly in Worthing’s 2-1 FA Trophy first qualifying round replay win against Burgess Hill.

After being stretchered off, he was taken to hospital for an X-ray and Worthing boss Adam Hinshelwood this morning gave an update on the forward.

He said: “There’s no break but is some soft tissue damage.”

“It’s quite swollen and bruised and he might have tweaked the ligaments but we’re waiting for the swelling to go down.”

“It’s still early days but the doctors seemed relatively pleased with the X-ray. He’s got to keep his leg elevated for the next 24 to 48 hours and by Saturday we should have a clearer picture of how long he’ll be out for.”

“He definitely won’t play on Saturday and at the moment we think he’ll be out for a minimum of a couple of weeks.”

Pearce adds to Worthing’s injury list, with Lucas Covolan, Aarran Racine, Alfie Young and Joel Colbran also on the sidelines and Will Miles picked up a knock last night.