The Rangers striker has not featured for Ally McCoist's side since being crocked on international duty earlier this month, with his time on the sidelines finally giving him the chance to heal a long- standing problem.

Little said: "From the point I left the Northern Ireland team, we said we'd have a fortnight where I'd wear the boot.

"That's up at the start of this week so now we're at a stage where I'm due to have it looked at again today or tomorrow.

"There might be another scan just to see how the bone has healed and hopefully it has done that properly and I can get the green light to play again from the specialist.

"The problem with my foot is something I've actually had for three months and it was something I was able to play through.

"But it got to the point where I didn't want to push it any further and the medical staff thought it was the right time to take a break."

Little's imminent return to action will be a major boost to McCoist as the striker bids to get back on the goal trail.

Tomorrow's Scottish Communities League Cup clash with Motherwell appears to have come too soon for the forward but he is confident it won't be long until he is available for selection once again.

He said: "We've had a couple of weeks now where it has hopefully settled down but I won't have lost a lot of fitness in that time.

"It's also not as if I've been sitting around doing nothing. I've still been in at training every day and I've been doing a lot of swimming and aqua jogging.

"I don't expect my fitness to drop at all and I don't see why I shouldn't come straight back into the team provided there's a space for me in it.

"I don't think it's the case that I'll need to work on my own with the physio for a while or anything like that.

"I don't know if I'd be able to face Motherwell. It's possibly going to be too early but we'll know more once I've been looked at again.

"The specialist might say I need longer in the boot but obviously I don't want that so we'll see what happens."