Burnley defender Ben Mee is set for an extended spell on the sidelines after suffering medial knee ligament damage.
Former Manchester City youngster Mee sustained the problem during Sunday's 1-1 derby draw with Blackburn at Turf Moor.
Mee completed the 90 minutes at left-back but took to his personal Twitter page on Tuesday afternoon to reveal the bad news of an expected four-to-six week lay-off.
He tweeted: "Managed to tear my medial ligament in my knee midway through the game on Sunday, looking like a 4 to 6 week job #gutted".
A club statement from Burnley later confirmed the news, concurring with Mee's prognosis that he would be absent for "several weeks".
Clarets boss Sean Dyche said: "It's a blow for Ben and we will have to give the knee a chance to settle down and then fully assess the injury.
"We are hoping it will be sooner, rather than later, but we are expecting it will be weeks, rather than days."
Former England international striker Beattie arrived at the Crown Ground as a player-coach last month and his strike during Saturday's 3-3 draw with Shrewsbury was his third in as many Stanley starts.
Joyce said: "It's been great. He's managed to get three goals, and I think he's happy with that.
"Two of them have been penalties but you can tell by the way he plays, his presence, that he's going to add a real quality to our squad.
"He's probably the type of player we need who's been around the game at the highest level and hopefully a lot of the younger lads on our team can learn from him.
"If James Beattie rubs off a bit on everyone then I'm sure we'll be better for it in the long run."
