Promotion with Sheffield United would be ideal parting gift from Bunn

With Blades' No 1 Paddy Kenny due to return to the fold in April after serving a nine-month drugs ban, Bunn will go back to his parent club Blackburn Rovers in the summer.

Things will not get any easier at Ewood Park, however, where England international Paul Robinson stands in his path.

Bunn, 25, has another two years left on his contract with the Premier League club but, after getting a taste of the limelight with the Blades, has no desire to play reserve-team football again.

"Once you start playing games, you want to play all the time," he said. "Ideally, that will happen at Blackburn next season – but if not, I will look somewhere else.

"At the end of this season, I fully expect to go back to Blackburn where I will be trying to get in the team. But Paul Robinson is a great goalkeeper, who plays for England, so it is always going to be tough to get past him."

Bunn's stay with the Blades has not been without its difficulties.

After conceding 10 goals in four games during the month of October, Bunn was dropped by manager Kevin Blackwell and appeared to have no future at the club when goalkeeper Carl Ikeme was signed on loan from Wolves.

Ikeme, however, suffered injury in only his second game and joined reserve-team goalkeeper Ian Bennett on the sidelines.

Bunn kept a clean sheet on his return to the side against Nottingham Forest and his improved form subsequently led to his loan deal being extended until the end of the season.

"Having that break when I was dropped has done me good because I believe I have come back a better goalkeeper," he said. "It might have been a confidence issue. Maybe I just needed a rest? Maybe I didn't quite know what to expect in the Championship? Whatever it was, I have worked hard on improving my game with the goalkeeping coach Andy Leaning and I feel more confident now."

With no game at the weekend due to the postponement of the club's trip to Watford, Bunn is hoping to be back in action tomorrow night when the Blades are scheduled to visit Queens Park Rangers for a third-round FA Cup replay.

"It would have been a good time to play Watford because our confidence is up and we are doing well, it would have been ideal," Bunn reflected. "Hopefully, we will have a good run in the FA Cup and play some Premiership teams.

"I am still young in goalkeeping terms as most play on until their late 30s or even their 40s. I am still learning the game and studying other goalkeepers to add things to my game.

"I want to play in the Premiership and, hopefully, we can win promotion to the Premiership with Sheffield United this season," he said. "The table is very tight, we are only three points off fourth spot.

"We are going to try and get automatic promotion but, if we don't get that, we will look towards the play-offs. That is a 'must' this season because this is such a massive club and everyone here is desperate to go up. This club gets more supporters than Blackburn at times and it has been a great experience to play in front of 26,000 supporters every week."