Luke Hyam knows the best way of wiping out the bitter memory of last season’s play-off defeat by Norwich will be to go one better and finish the current campaign on a high.
He may have been ruled out with a knee injury but homegrown Hyam felt the pain every bit as much as his team-mates as they crashed out to an aggregate defeat following the semi-final second leg at Carrow Road, with the Canaries going on to defeat Middlesbrough in the Wembley final to claim a Premier League return.
Hyam, 24, said: "All I can say about that occasion is that it was horrible. I travelled up there with the lads and I sat on the bench. I wanted to be a part of it, as much as I could, but I was gutted not to be properly involved and I felt for those who were.
"All I can do now is look to the future because I’m back involved again and hopefully I can play a part between now and the end of the season as we look to get back into the play-offs or even secure automatic promotion.
"Now that I am back I can appreciate more what I’ve got. There was even a time when I couldn’t walk and couldn’t do anything for myself.
"After going through a spell like that it makes you appreciate life even more. I’m so grateful to be where I am now and I just want to look into the New Year, push on and do my very best for the club.”
Hyam returned to Town action for the first time in almost a year when Mick McCarthy sent him on soon after the interval to replace fellow midfielder Kevin Bru in Tuesday’s morale-boosting win at Brighton, the club’s fifth in a row on the road to equal the achievement of Bobby Robson’s team in 1976, the only time it had happened before.
A sixth successive away win at Burnley on Saturday will see the current Town team rewrite the record books and Hyam added: "All the boys were talking about that after the game on Tuesday.
"It’s a massive game against Burnley because they are big rivals in the promotion race but if we could win up there it would be a nice touch to make history at the same time.
"It would be phenomenal for all the boys if we could be part of an achievement like that. We’re all looking forward to it so let’s wait and see what happens.”
If Hyam is involved at Turf Moor he will come up against ex-England midfielder Joey Barton and he said: "I’ve played against him a couple of times and he’s a very good player, one of the very best I’ve played against so far.
"He’s very experienced but he’s not the only good player at Burnley. There are a lot of other strengths in their team but hopefully we can look after ourselves and try to get all three points.”