Nahki Wells opened up about his season at Bristol City as he spoke with the media yesterday ahead of today’s English Championship match against Peterborough at Ashton Gate.

Opportunities have been limited for Wells this season, but he grabbed his chance in spectacular fashion when he netted his third goal of the season against West Bromwich Albion on March 19 after coming on as a seventh-minute substitute for the injured Antoine Semenyo and scoring 20 minutes later in the 2-2 draw.

Wells started the next match against Bournemouth and played the full 90 minutes in the 3-2 loss and could be in line to keep his place in the team for today’s match against the bottom team.

“The routine of knowing you’re playing plays a part in how you perform, opposed to when you don’t know but are working your socks off in training to prepare for a game,” Wells told reporters.

“For me it has been wanting to know when that opportunity is coming and trying to stay positive for when it does come. I feel I’ve done as well as I can to keep myself fit and healthy when I’ve been called upon and it hasn’t been something that has let me down.”

Wells has appreciated the honesty shown to him by manager Nigel Pearson who hasn’t made the Bermuda captain a regular first-team starter.

“With me not being relatively happy with how much football I’ve played, as a person how he’s dealt with me I can’t really say a negative thing about him,” Wells explained.

“He’s been as positive as he can with me, so when the opportunities do come I’ve been mentally in the right place. I’m experienced and played the game long enough to know the highs and lows of football and how to deal with some setbacks, some periods in your football career that aren’t going exactly how you want.

“Stay positive, stay prepared so when an opportunity presents itself, like last week when I got my first start in a while, I was well and ready for it.”

Wells, at 32, is one of the oldest – and highest paid – members of the Bristol City squad. He admits he doesn’t know what the future holds but hopes to have a few more years as a professional footballer.

“It’s no doubt as a footballer you have an expiration date, and nobody knows when that time will come,” he said.

“Thankfully with me I don’t feel as if I’ve been given any insight on when that date will come. I still feel as fresh and confident and happy and enjoy being in a working environment. Long may that continue.

“Yes, there is a time when that has to be an inevitable call but for now I feel as if I have a few very good years ahead of me.”