Town midfielder Stephen Hunt has attributed his lack of fitness at the start of the season to the pressures of launching a business venture back home in Ireland during the summer.
The former Reading, Hull, Wolves and Republic of Ireland winger is the proud proprietor of Tides Gastro Pub in Rosslare, which opened its doors for business in June and is growing in popularity with both locals and tourists to the area.
Hunt, who was sidelined until earlier this month when he started the home clash with Blackburn having suffered a calf problem in pre-season, said: "I think I was tired if the truth be known and probably had a busy summer with my business, trying to sort it out. Even though I wasn’t physically doing too much I was tired mentally.
"You’ve got to look after yourself and I’m not saying I didn’t because I did my programme and stuff like that. But I also did a lot of other stuff with it so next summer I’ll be relaxing and coming back fresher.”
Hunt did not feature in the away fixture at Cardiff, which came just three days after the Blackburn game and is the club’s only defeat in 10 league games, and he explained: "The manager and I had a discussion and from what he said I totally understood that he left me out because I did cover a lot of ground in the Blackburn game, which was surprising when you consider it was my first game back.
"I had been training hard for three or four weeks, so it was nice to get the confidence from knowing I was able to cover that distance and also get better as the game went on. Hopefully, when I do get my chance again, I’ll be ready to go.
"If I can get back in quickly I’ll be better for it but if I have to wait three or four weeks…it always takes a couple of games to get going so hopefully I can get back in now and stay in. But I don’t know what the gaffer has planned for the weekend at Blackpool.”
Hunt is adamant that his pub and restaurant venture has done nothing to diminish his appetite for football. He said: "It’s easy for people to say ‘He’s starting a business’ and stuff like that but if they saw me train every day, running around and enjoying it the way I do, they would know I’m up for it.
"The gaffer said after the game against Blackburn that he could see me playing for another three or four years, so hopefully I can crack on and he’ll be right. I will play for as long as I can, for sure. You get an appreciation of the game as you get older and I certainly have that so I won’t be going anywhere if I can help it.
"With the business it’s just a case of making plans for what I am going to do after football. It’s going well but a business takes a couple of years to get up and running. I make a phone call every day just to keep up with it. What’s the football cliché? You can always do better!”