DEFENDER Tyrone Mings could be ready to hand Cherries a timely boost by hitting the comeback trail earlier than had initially been anticipated.

Mings was expected to be sidelined for the rest of the season after discovering he had sustained a stress fracture to his spine during the early stages of the campaign.

The 25-year-old, who has been plagued by injury since his £8million move from Ipswich in 2015, has not played since succumbing to the problem during Cherries' defeat at Arsenal in September.

And although he was on the road to recovery at the end of last year, Mings's progress was checked when he suffered a setback in December.

He was referred for treatment at Aspetar, a world-renowned orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital based in the Qatari capital of Doha.

And he is now ahead of schedule in his recovery and is hoping to be in contention for Cherries' final few Premier League games of the season.

Boss Eddie Howe told the Daily Echo: "There was a train of thought that Tyrone would be out for the rest of the season.

"We concurred with that and thought there was no way he would be back.

"But he has made really good progress since going away to get treatment on his back. They looked after him really well and gave him some outstanding work.

"He has come back feeling really good so has been able to push on and is getting closer.

"He hasn’t trained with us yet and is still with our sports science team but we hope he could play before the end of the season.

"It would be a huge lift for us if we could get him fit. He is champing at the bit to get involved but we have to make sure his injury is okay."

Mings, who penned a new contract in September, has been restricted to 14 appearances for Cherries.

He spent more than a year out after suffering a serious knee injury just six minutes into his Premier League debut in August 2015.

Giving an update on his recovery in a question-and-answer article in Saturday's matchday programme, Mings said: "It has been a frustrating period but I am hoping that I will be back mid-April.

"I am targeting the Liverpool away game. I will hopefully play some under-21 fixtures in early April as I get back into the training group ready to be selected for that game at Anfield.

"The trip to Qatar was part of the rehab programme I followed. I went out there to work with a couple of back specialists to try to get over the problem I had.

"I worked with some professionals out there who knew how to handle the situation.

"It mainly consisted of running, weights, a little bit of football and basically getting me back moving and feeling like a footballer and athlete again in a warmer climate."