IPSWICH Town wide midfielder Luciano Civelli is making a better than anticipated recovery - and could be back in action before Christmas.

Elvin King

By ELVIN KING

elvin.king@archant.co.uk

IPSWICH Town wide midfielder Luciano Civelli is making a better than anticipated recovery - and could be back in action before Christmas.

The Argentinean suffered ligament damage against Burnley last March and will see a specialist next week to determine the next stage in his rehabilitation

It was expected that he would not be back in the New Year, but Civelli said: “I feel I am improving all the time.

“In two months I hope to be training with my team-mates. That is the target for me. And I want to be back playing football again before Christmas.

“I am running every day and feel happy with the progress I am making.

“Hopefully the specialist will say that it is okay to start doing exercises with the ball and increase my running to a quicker pace.”

It's the first serious injury that Civelli, who joined Town last January, has suffered and the 22-year-old added: “I knew it was a bad injury when I went down. I have never had a feeling in my knee like that before.

“The first month or so was hard but I have always remained positive and now I can look forward to playing again as quickly as possible.”