CITY'S pre-season tour of Scotland has so far given boss Bryan Gunn the chance to run the rule over 23 different players in the first two games against Raith Rovers and St Johnstone. One player who has really grabbed his opportunity to shine on tour has been 17-year-old Welsh defender David Stephens.

A product of the Canaries' Academy set-up, Stephens has certainly enjoyed a whirlwind few weeks. At the end of June he put pen to paper on his first professional contract with the Club and has now made a great impression during the pre-season programme.

The giant defender featured in City's 6-0 win over Fakenham Town and then played the full 90 minutes against Raith Rovers as the Canaries opened their three-match tour of Scotland with with a 1-0 win at Stark's Park on Tuesday evening. He was also an unused substitute in Thursday's win over St Johnstone.

Speaking exclusively to First News from the Club's St Andrews training camp, Stephens said he was relishing the opportunity of being away with the first team squad on his first pre-season tour as a professional.

"I'm really enjoying it. The lads have made me feel welcome and I feel part of the team now and obviously it was great to get 90 minutes under my belt the other day."

Stephens is joined on tour by Dario Dumic, his defensive partner from last season's youth team plus a number of other young players who have progressed through the Academy system at Colney. He admitted it was good be among friends.

"Of course, the young ones - we kind of stick together but we do interact with the older ones but it is nice to have faces around that you are familiar with."

Tuesday's match against Raith at Stark's Park really gave Stephens the chance to show boss Bryan Gunn and his coaching staff what he is capable of. And the youngster was pleased with his night's work.

"I thought the team did well and I thought that individually I did okay as well.

"In the first five minutes I was just getting into the game but after that I thought I did well."

Stephens made his name with a string of impressive performances in last season's youth team as Ricky Martin's troops finished runners-up in their league and enjoyed an exciting run to the quarter-final stage of the FA Youth Cup. The partnership of Stephens and Dumic was a key component in that success but how does Stephens feel now playing alongside other defensive colleagues?

"When it's a really good professional player like Michael Nelson it really helps. I'm going up in standard by playing with him so it really helps. He talks a lot and is a really good leader," said Stephens after partnering Nelson against Raith Rovers.

With the players often taking part in two training sessions a day, Stephens confirmed the tour had not really given him and his team-mates much to do other than work on fitness and football.

"We've not been up to much really, just catching up on some rest! We went into town yesterday and went to the cinema but really we've just been chilling out in our rooms."

Following the win over Raith, Stephens was part of a group of players who took part in a swimming session to aid their recovery from the match. The session finished with a game of head tennis in the pool which ended in controversy!

"It was really good fun but there were some very dodgy refereeing decisions by Mark Garfoot (Sports Scientist) though!" confirmed Stephens, who happened to end up on the losing side of that particularly competitive encounter.

Pictures from Tony Fimister