Memory lane

Norwich's John Ruddy tells us about his early days at Cambridge & trialling against Gary Neville.

When John Ruddy lines up for Norwich City against Stoke City in the Premier League on Sunday lunchtime, the goalkeeper will be continuing his 10th season as a professional player. A decade in the game is a fine achievement for the soon-to-be-27-year-old and in that time he has become one of the best in his position in England's top flight. His form over the past two years has even seen him become a regular member of England's squad, including a debut as a half-time substitute in the 2012 friendly defeat by Italy. Such have been the standard of Ruddy's performances, he was also the subject of more than one rejected summer transfer bid from Chelsea. But before Ruddy joined Norwich in 2010, before nine loan spells during a five-year spell of one appearance at Everton, his career began as a teenager in League Two at Cambridge United. He made his debut in the final game of the 2003/04 season against Leyton Orient and announced himself in style. As a 17-year-old, he saved a penalty from Orient hero Matty Lockwood and kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win. "For the first 15 minutes, it was the most nerve-wracking experience of my life," Ruddy, who has since been given the nickname of 'Iceman' due to his ability to remain calm under pressure, remembered in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports at an EA SPORTS FIFA 14 launch. "I was taking goal-kicks and I could not connect with the ball. I kept kicking the ground and the ball was bobbling about 30 yards! The intensity was unbelievable. "But then I saved the penalty. He scored the first one but then it had to be retaken due to encroachment. I managed to get myself together and saved the second one. I kept a clean sheet and we won the game, so it was ideal for me. "The dressing room after the game was a blur. I just remember being on the team coach and checking my phone and having all sorts of missed calls and congratulatory messages from family and friends. I went home and tried to embrace the moment. It is up there with the top moments in my career and always will be." Ruddy had been a trainee at Cambridge, working as a ball-boy on match-days along with all the youth-team members. He lived in shared accommodation with his fellow scholars - "It was like one big family". But he was also quickly embraced by the senior professionals at the club, players such as former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ipswich Town defender Mark Venus, Andy Duncan, who had started his career at Manchester United, and ex-Norwich striker Iwan Roberts. They showed respect for the young Ruddy and there were none of the usual rite-of-passage initiations to the first-team squad, such as burning clothes or other crude practical jokes. "To be fair, they were always really good with me," said Ruddy. "As older players, they enjoyed the banter. But they never took it too far. I think they realised at a team like Cambridge, with the resources we had, as with a lot of lower league teams at that time, they relied on the younger lads coming through. "So, they encouraged it [youth progression] more than you would probably get at a higher level. So, it was a great stepping stone and development phase for me in my career. Seeing on the training field their [the senior players'] professional attitude and will to win on a Saturday, I realised you needed that desire or you are never going to make it." Ruddy took