Town boss Mick McCarthy has revealed that David McGoldrick and Teddy Bishop are closing in on a return to action after their lengthy absences with hamstring injuries.
Bishop, 19, has been out of the first-team picture since pre-season initially due to shin splints - which also hampered him at the end of last season - and then a persistent hamstring injury.
The Cambridge-born youngster played for the U21s at Birmingham in mid-September, then in the home game against Crystal Palace at the end of October but hasn’t been involved since.
McGoldrick missed most of the second half of last season with a troublesome thigh problem, having been out of action for the final months of the previous campaign after suffering a serious knee injury.
The Irish international has had a stop-start 2015/16 due to a number of injuries, which have restricted him to eight starts and 11 sub appearances, scoring three goals.
After returning to action following a groin problem in mid-December, the 28-year-old, who signed a new contract tying him to Town until 2018 earlier in the campaign, tore a hamstring in training.
But McCarthy says he’s now well on the road to recovery: "Fingers crossed. It’s not going to be this week, but Didz is making a very good recovery with the treatment he’s having. He’s back in the building now and is quite optimistic.
"I think he’s got a real carrot at the end of this season with the European Championships.
"Don’t anybody get me wrong and say, ‘He should be playing for us!’. That’s a carrot. He’s got to play for us to get in the European Championship team.
"He wants to be back here, he wants to play. It’ll be a great summer for him if he could go to France with Ireland.
I'm getting there 😆⚽ï¸ðŸ˜›– Ted bishop (@ted10bishop) February 1, 2016
"It might be the end of March, but we’ve got seven games in April and, who knows, it could be just the right time.”
Regarding Bishop, who tweeted a message which suggested he is also making good progress earlier in the week, McCarthy added: "Bish, he might be before that, I hope. He’s just had such a tough time and I feel for the both of them.”