Emotional Jack Hunt honest on Sheffield Wednesday contract chances – makes Huddersfield Town claim
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But in those 41 minutes came one of the most instantly iconic moments in the modern history of the club.
Save for half a yard – due to a mistimed run or an extra touch depending on whether you ask Hunt or Will Vaulks – he’d have grabbed another, sliding the ball through for Vaulks to smash home what Wednesday thought at the time to be a Wembley winner in extra time.
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Hide AdThe penalty he so coolly slid into the top corner of the Kop end net to complete the Miracle of S6 was a moment that felt almost in slow motion. As he turned to his teammates, gum-in-jaw, almost apologetic in his demeanour, he wrote himself into Wednesday history books.
A decision is due fast on what will become of the 32-year-old next season – his contract is set to run out in the coming weeks.
Speaking at the club’s civic reception to celebrate promotion via the League One play-offs, he told The Star: “For me playing a bit-part in the season – listen, it was short of what I wanted to achieve – the shootout was a nice moment. I felt like a striker for the first time in my career!
“Those are the little moments that live with me forever. The heartbeat of this football club is the fanbase. Players, managers, staff, they’ll leave this football club but the main thing is the fans. They are here, they always have been and they’ll never leave.
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Hide Ad“I played at Huddersfield from eight years old, I left when I was 23. It’s the first time I’ve said this but it was a sad moment for me because things behind the scenes got a little bit twisted when I left and I’ve never been back to Huddersfield aside from as an opposition player.
“I’ve had five years at Sheffield Wednesday and no matter what happens now, it’s a club that I will call home in terms of my whole career.
“It’s a place that will be home for a long, long time. My children and my wife sacrifice a lot in terms of what goes on that nobody sees and they feel the same about Sheffield Wednesday.”
Hunt made only eight starts in league football this season, with illness and injury conspiring to stand in the way of progress in what has been an up-and-down second spell with the club from a personal point of view.
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Hide AdHe has a pragmatic outlook on what happens next and while he wouldn’t be drawn on direct conversations he has or hasn’t had with club figures, he did hint at a possible parting of ways.
He said: “I’ll be coming back here for a long time whatever happens, you know? I feel I’ve got a lot to offer, I feel this season has been tough for me. I’ve been written-off a little bit, but that’s football, fair enough. Opinions are opinions. That’s football.
“It’s an amazing football club. I just hope it can continue on the rise like it has done this season.”