David Norris could be back in action as early as next month.

The Ipswich Town midfielder was ruled out for six months after suffering knee ligament damage in the Blues’ opening match of the season at Coventry.

But he is making quicker-than-expected progress and has made a “massive improvement” in the last fortnight.

Now Norris believes he could be back ahead of schedule and said: “Things are going well.

“I saw the specialist a couple of days ago and he was pleasantly surprised by how well the knee looked.

“It’s definitely healing and that process will take care of itself.

“It’s important for me now to build up the muscles as strong as possible around the knee to help it.

“I’ve come out of a fixed brace and am doing some swimming and cycling work and there has been a massive improvement just doing that over the last two weeks.”

Former Plymouth man Norris has been badly missed by an Ipswich side that are still without a win this season and sit bottom of the Championship.

And he admits his situation was difficult to come to terms with when it first happened.

“I feel I’m making progress now,” he said.

“But the first two weeks were really hard and I was struggling to get my head around the fact I was going to miss half the season.

“I’ve got to be guided by the specialists and physios but I feel I’m ahead of schedule and have my own target in mind.

“If there are no setbacks, I’m sure it will be much closer to four months than six.

“The gaffer and the players have been great in helping me along.

“They have kept me involved in the banter and I just want to get back and help the lads as soon as possible.”