Joe Ledley could be back in action for Cardiff City within two or three weeks, manager Dave Jones has revealed.
The news, a massive boost for the promotion-chasing Bluebirds, broke as the players prepared for Sunday's home match with Watford.
Joe last played for City in the 6-0 League win at Bristol City on January 26, before having two hip operations.
City feared they had lost Ledley for the season, but Dave said: "Joe goes to see the specialist on Monday and we'll find out whether he can start running again. Once he can start running we're maybe looking at two to three weeks if everything goes well. So some time in April we might have him back.
"With Joe, I'm trying to push the physios to force it along, but they might tell me five weeks. It's just down to Joe. We've got to get the all-clear that he can start running and once he starts running, hopefully we can push him along. But it's still an injury that will take the timescale the specialist has given.
"I think Joe wants to play again before the end of the season but again, we are in the hands of the specialist and when he gives the all-clear."
With central defender Mark Hudson also aiming to be back in mid-April after an operation on a ruptured ankle tendon, Dave is hoping to see the City squad getting stronger during the run-in to the play-offs.
Defender Kevin McNaughton is doubtful for the Watford match because of a thigh strain, although Gabor Gyepes could be back to reinforce central defence. One fresh injury setback for City is that full back Miguel Comminges is out for the season after undergoing an operation on his anterior cruciate ligament.
Dave said: "We've had a horrendous injury list and people like Naughts and Whitts probably played on when they should have been rested. I've got nothing but admiration for the players. OK, sometimes they don't get the result we'd like, but it's not for the want of trying.
"If we can get the likes of Joe and Huds back, we'll get Kevin back pretty quickly, and Kelvin Etuhu will be back with us next week, so I'm hoping there's good news from him. If we can keep the others fit then we are a match for anybody in this division but we need a full complement of players to do that.
"Gabor is back with us today. I just want to gain people and not lose them. There's a new optimism around the place, I think you saw that on Tuesday night when there was a spring in our step during the Coventry game. That was from the Saturday match because everybody knew that little bit of sharpness in our play was coming back and that was evident on Tuesday.
"Young Josh Magennis is nearing fitness, and although you never want to rely on kids, it's nice to see him back in training."
Dave swept aside suggestions that City "stole" their mideek victory over Coventry with a late penalty, saying: "That's a bit harsh after the performance we put up. It doesn't matter whether you score in the first minute of the second half or the last, we were the team mounting the pressure and looking like we were going to score. The goal came in the last minute and that's credit to the players because they kept going.
"We certainly didn't steal anything. It was a well-deserved victory. If you look at the full 90 minutes it was mostly one-way traffic and David didn't have much to do in goal. Maybe with a little bit more care in front of goal we could have made life easier and got the result sewn up before the last couple of minutes.
"We looked like the only team trying to win it - I think maybe Coventry had settled for the point. We kept going forward and more often than not that will bring its reward.
"I said after the Leicester game that I felt we didn't get the result we deserved but our performance made me think there was light at the tunnel, especially with the players we had coming back.
"It was a fantastic performance at Coventry. We looked like our old selves, we passed the ball better, we had more control and we had a cutting edge to us which we haven't had in the past four or five weeks. I hope we can really kick on now.
"We stayed in the top six because of what we did, not what anybody else did. We worked hard and stuck together and I would like to think that's the reason why. It's a tough division and you normally get what you deserve.
"Watford had a good result against Ipswich after a little bit of a torrid run but you can't predict anything at this level. It's absolutely crazy. Look at some of the results on Tuesday night or over last weekend, and at this time of the season it's very difficult to predict. Everybody's fighting for something, even Peterborough who are at the bottom, haven't given up on anything. They still think they've got an outside chance of survival. There's nothing you can predict at this level."
