Interview/Stephen Hunt: Emmet Malonegets the thoughts of the Reading midfielder on how he is coping with life in the Premiership
A year after a cup tie with Birmingham almost guaranteed him a rare start for Steve Coppell's then promotion-chasing Reading, Stephen Hunt is far more doubtful about his chances of starting this afternoon's fourth-round game against the same opposition at St Andrew's. Sometimes, it seems, signs of progress for players chasing their dream come in slightly unexpected ways.
Birmingham won a replay between the two sides 12 months ago and Coppell might not be all that disappointed if his rather inexperienced players were to make their exit from the competition on the same pitch today. It's a measure of how far Hunt has progressed at the club, however, that he is entirely relaxed about whether it is he or the man he has largely displaced from the side, Bobby Convey, who starts against the Championship outfit.
"I'd like to play, absolutely," says the infectiously enthusiastic 25-year-old. "Last year the FA Cup was good to me, I was coming on all the time in the league but I got my chances to start in those games and I was very grateful for that. But now the situation's changed, I'm starting regularly and I can hardly complain if the manager decides to stick with the side (including Convey rather than Hunt) that started against Burnley in the last round."
The temptation for Coppell to rest players is heightened by the proximity of Tuesday's Premiership game against Wigan, against whom Hunt, with two goals in his last three outings, will almost certainly feature.
By the time that match kicks off the former Crystal Palace and Brentford midfielder might just be celebrating his first senior international call-up, for Steve Staunton is due to name his squad for the San Marino game that afternoon, and the sort of flexibility offered by the in-form left-footed Waterfordman - he can also play at left back or up front - must give him a realistic shout of making the cut.
"I've probably shown a little bit of inexperience in the past with the way that I've talked about getting into the squad, saying that I should be in there and all that," he says. "But the fact is that I'd still give my right arm to be in among them. There's nothing I can do about that now, though, except keep on playing and hope that he (Staunton) notices what I'm doing. It's out of my control."
The recent B international, only his second appearance in an Ireland jersey at any level, was, he hopes, a sign that things are moving in the right direction. But there has been no direct contact from the senior manager.
"I haven't spoken to him but I presume he's watching, and the scouts have been at some of the games. To be honest, it's something that would always go through my head before a game . . . Who are we playing against? Do they have any Irish? If they do then maybe this would be a good day for him to come and watch . . ."
Staunton, whatever his views on the lively and always highly committed midfielder, could hardly be unaware of the player's existence at this stage. Just a couple of days ago Coppell criticised the media for singling him out for attention in the wake of his clashes with Petr Cech back in October and then, just last weekend, Keith Gillespie.
"It's all been very frustrating," he admits without any trace of bitterness. "I mean this year's been great after all the times when it seemed that I was the only one who believed I could make it over here - well, me and Steve Coppell, who has signed me two or three times, to be fair to him.
"Well, the fact that so few people thought I could make it in the Championship never mind make the step up to the Premiership has made the last few months seem all the sweeter. And who doesn't like a bit of attention? It's been nice when I get stopped in a shop or a restaurant and asked for an autograph or something - long may it continue.
"But I've been really surprised by the way I've been portrayed at times. Okay, I've always been a very committed player, I'm in there for every tackle and I have to take some responsibility for the Cech thing because I went for it and caught him rather than the ball, but I wrote to him afterwards and spoke to John Terry and everybody at Chelsea's been fine about it since.
"After Keith Gillespie got sent off last week, though, everybody's been on about me again," he continues, "and this time I did absolutely nothing. I didn't say boo to him. Martin Keown, I think it was, said that somebody ought to take him (Hunt) aside and have a word with him but about what? I didn't do anything.
"It's funny, players can get into moods sometimes just like anybody else and if you look since, he (Gillespie) handed in a transfer request so, honestly, I think maybe things just weren't going too well for him there, he wasn't dealing with it and it just happened to be me that got in the way last weekend."
Having been offered only a one-year deal by Reading last summer and decided to take it rather than sign up for the longer term with a Championship outfit, Hunt's own future might have been a concern, but his recent form has earned him a deeply satisfying two-and-a-half-year extension.
"I gambled on myself, it came off and I'm delighted," he says. "Hopefully things will go so well now I'll be here for the rest of my career, but you don't want to get carried away . . . I've learned in the past the way things can change suddenly just when you think they're falling into place."
Another couple of league wins, though, and he will have played an important part in keeping Reading up and maybe, just maybe, getting them into Europe. "We haven't quite earned the right to be looking above yet," he says cautiously, "but if we keep doing well, I keep playing and hopefully score a few more goals then I'll be more than happy with the season."
Perhaps he feels mentioning a call-up again would make him sound greedy but word that he's to report for the trip to San Marino would, needless to say, be quite welcome too.
