Back in the hunt for a starting place

INTERVIEW: STEPHEN HUNT: Mary Hannigantalks to Wolves midfielder Stephen Hunt who is easing his way back after being out injured for eight months.

WHEN HE came on as a substitute for Wolves against Chelsea last month Stephen Hunt, predictably enough, didn’t receive the warmest of welcomes from the Stamford Bridge faithful, his clash with Petr Cech from four years before still, evidently, fresh in their thoughts.

Having spent eight months on the sidelines, though, even the boos were probably music to Hunt’s ears. He was, at last, back in action.

His foot injury, sustained in January when playing for Hull City against Wolves, the club he went on to join in June, seemed harmless enough at the time, Hunt, while experiencing pain, never suspecting that it would keep him out of the game for so long.

“I played four, five games after that with a local anaesthetic just to kill the pain,” he said.

“I had it X-rayed and scanned at the time, but there was nothing really showing. But then I saw a specialist and he spotted it.”

“Lisfranc”, said Hunt, was the diagnosis of the injury.

“I can’t explain the science of it, but basically the foot collapsed so they put a screw through the two metatarsals. Once you get the screw out you’ve got to let the bone grow back and make it strong.

“Duffer (Damien Duff) had a similar injury, I talked to him when it first happened. He was actually asking me this morning how it was. It takes time, but it’s fine. We had pretty much the same surgeon, so it’s good.”

Ironically enough, the player who Hunt thinks caused the injury, French defender Ronald Zubar, is now a team-mate at Wolves.

“I think it was just a bit of impact. Might have been from getting kicked all the time, or whatever. I think it was Zubar when he stood on my foot, I’m not sure. I came back to fitness and then he got injured. His ankle.” How’d he get the injury?

“It wasn’t me anyway,” he smiled.

“Nah, he’s alright actually.”

It was a tough eight months, not least the latter part when he missed out on the start of the season with Wolves and the opening games of Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. Giovanni Trapattoni, though, kept in touch. “Yeah, I had a couple of text messages from him alright. It’s lovely, to be honest. It gives you a lift, you’re a little excited when you get a message. ‘How are you?’, or something like that. It helps you to keep on going though the dark days when you’re injured.

“The most important thing at a time like that is that you’re mentally strong. You have bad days, but then you have some progression. You do running and the next day you might be a bit sore, so you’re a bit disappointed. It was slow coming back. I had a few niggles and so it’s only now that I’m beginning to feel like a bit of an athlete. Feel good, so: happy days.”

While Chelsea, Manchester United (twice – in the League and League Cup), Manchester City and Arsenal have provided the opposition in five of his six games since his return, his form, he admits, has been mixed.

He’s not beating himself up about it just yet, though, he’s prepared to give himself time, not something he’s always done in the past.

“Yeah, I’ve given myself a break. Stopped giving myself a hard time.

“I’m only four, five games back in to it, and these games have been like my pre-season. If I work myself up it will only start affecting me, so I’m going to let it go, start enjoying my football again, not worry about it too much.”

“The manager (Mick McCarthy) has been brilliant. It would have been easy for him to criticise me in the last couple of weeks, in terms of my performances, but I’ve been out injured for a long time. I’m going to come back and I’m going to repay his faith for signing me, because he signed me when I was injured. It’ll come. He knows what I’m like and what I can achieve, so I don’t think he’s panicking too much with me yet. He’s been good to me.”

Meanwhile, in Hunt’s absence Liam Lawrence’s international star has risen, while Seamus Coleman’s emergence has given Trapattoni another option for his wide midfield positions.

But Hunt, who will earn his 26th cap if he comes off the bench tonight, insists he’s not worried by the competition, and takes his inspiration from the patience of a former Reading team-mate.

“A lot of lads have come through, but that always happens with Ireland. It’s healthy competition, that’s the way you have to look at it. You just have to keep at it.

“Look at Shane Long (who starts tonight). He’s turned up every time for the last two years, but he hasn’t come on in a lot of the games. And that’s hard sometimes, you’re sitting in a hotel room, thinking about it, stuff like that.

“But he’s getting more regular football with his club (Reading) at the moment, so that will benefit him as well. He’s getting stronger. I think he had a year there when he may have stood still a little bit, but he’s better than that so he’s progressing well again and showing his potential.

“He’s a Tipperary hurler, to be honest, he has the build. He hasn’t got the physique of a footballer, but he’s strong as an ox. He’s quick and powerful, so he’ll be a handful. Even if he’s having a bad game, he’s still in their faces and he’ll still cause problems.”

And Hunt is just happy to back in the faces of opponents, after eight months of frustration.

“It’s just a real buzz to be here this week – maybe not for the boys who have been here for the last couple of games, but for me it’s different. I’m excited. I want to play and I can’t wait.”