FORGET the fact that he made his Premiership debut at Old Trafford and that, at the tender age of 20, he was playing in a major cup final ... Nicky Hunt is currently having to face the first real test of his professional career.

This time last season, it was no surprise when the young Wanderer was rested from the first 11. He was new to the senior ranks and, although he had made an impressive start, he and everyone else understood that Sam Allardyce was taking him out of the firing line for his his own good.

It was a master stroke. After a five-match break from the pressures of the Premiership, Hunt was recalled to the first team and hit such a consistently high standard that he missed only one of the last 28 league games, starting 24, and carried on where he left off as first choice this season.

So being "rested" now has a whole new meaning -- as the manager acknowledged after leaving him out at West Brom.

"It's the first test for the young man," Allardyce explained. "Nicky was rested because we feel he's come round to not quite being as good as he has been.

"He's done remarkably well, during the long run that he's had last season and this, but we felt we needed a little bit more defensive solidity."

Hunt did not even make the bench at The Hawthorns, so strong is the competition for defensive places, but there is no shame in that.

Now the "test", as the manager puts it, is how he responds to losing his place.

Last season, when he initially hoped to start 10 Premiership games but ended up effectively making the right-back berth his own, he took the enforced break in his stride.

The manager's concern now is whether he can react as purposefully this time round.

Still only 21, Hunt has everything going for him, including a place in the England U21 squad.

He has come a long way in a short time since he made his league debut as a 17-year-old when he substituted for Colin Hendry in the final home league game of the 2000-01 season against Sheffield United.

He only signed professional forms in the summer of 2003 and, although he featured prominently in pre-season games, his hopes of breaking into the Premiership side appeared to take a knock when he was stretchered off and rushed to hospital after suffering a suspected broken leg in one of the games in Malta. But he survived the scare, recovered well and, when Allardyce was in need of a right-back on the opening day of last season, he answered the call -- impressively.

Tipped to graduate to the full international ranks, Hunt's star was in the ascendancy in the summer, when he was handed a new four-year contract, but he had set himself high standards and it is against those standards that his performances are now being judged.