FORGOTTEN man Nicky Hunt is desperate to help ease Wanderers’ relegation fears – but admits it is highly unlikely.

The out-of-favour full-back has yet to play a single minute for Bolton this season and looks set to end his nine-year association with his hometown club in the summer as he seeks regular first-team football elsewhere.

Despite not stepping onto the pitch at all for Wanderers this term, Hunt was bizarrely booked in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Portsmouth after referee Phil Dowd cautioned the substitute for shouting instructions to team-mate Kevin Davies while warming-up on the touchline.

The incident means Hunt will probably go down in the history books as the only player to have received a yellow card without making a single appearance in a Premier League campaign But the 25-year-old local lad is now hoping to make a more positive impact as he looks to help Wanderers over the finish line.

“It would be great but I not going to be holding my breath to be honest,” said Hunt, who spent two months on loan at Championship club Birmingham before Christmas.

“It’s been a difficult season and very frustrating.

“It was the same at the end of last year, although I played a lot of games last year in Europe and the cups, and early part of the Premier League campaign.

“But it hasn’t happened for me this season so I’ve just got to keep my head down and keep training.

“I need to play football so, whether that’s at Bolton or somewhere else, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

After more than 150 matches for Bolton, Hunt, who made his Premier League debut against Manchester United on the opening day of the 2003/04 season, seems certain to be allowed to leave Reebok.

But, for now, the former England under-21 ace is just concentrating on helping Wanderers secure their top-flight safety against Aston Villa this afternoon.

He said “The next one’s the big one because they’re going through a bit of a sticky patch.

“Everyone is saying 40 points is the target, so we need one more win. But I don’t think anyone is safe until they are mathematically safe.

“We’re just going into every game wanting to win and get the points to stay up.”