CANARY midfielder Darel Russell is hopeful of returning to the City line-up for tomorrow's Coca-Cola League One clash at Huddersfield after completing a three-match ban.
Russell's controversial dismissal against Southampton last month and City's unsuccessful appeal have been well-documented but having had to sit out the Canaries' last three League One victories, Russell is raring to go again. However the Carrow Road favourite recognises gaining back a place in a winning team is going to be a tough challenge.
"I don't think anyone has a right to play, you've got to try and prove yourself in every game," said Russell.
"It's an old cliché in football but you are only as good as your last game and my last game didn't last very long."
After missing out on City's recent triumphs over Southend, Oldham and Yeovil respectively, Russell has had to use training sessions to impress Lambert and his staff as he looks to regain his place in the City midfield.
"Hopefully you do enough in training and show what you can do and hopefully you get given a chance. When you get given that chance you have to take it with both hands and retain that position for as long as you possibly can," confirmed the 29-year-old.
Whether or not Russell starts tomorrow's game at the Galpharm Stadium is a question only City boss Paul Lambert knows the answer to. But the player himself is just glad to be available for selection again after admitting he's not the best at watching on from the sidelines.
"I think any of the fans in the River End will have seen the boys in a box and seen me jumping up and down like mad! Especially come the Southend game, I saw the first goal and was going crazy and by the time I had managed to get down by the tunnel I was jumping around with the stewards and celebrating the winner with them.
"It is frustrating because you want to be out there - watching football is difficult for me, I want to be involved and I struggle to watch but we've had great results."
Saturday's match at Huddersfield will see Russell return to a ground that brings some happy memories flooding back. As a youngster, during his first spell with the Club, Russell played in a memorable game away to Huddersfield in March 1999. The game ended 1-1 but will always be remembered by Russell for the night he scored his first-ever league goal.
Russell's strike came as early as the third minute but the drama certainly didn't end there. Just five minutes after Russell's early opening strike, City 'keeper Andy Marshall was sent off and Daryl Sutch was forced into spending 82 minutes as City's makeshift stopper. Sutch's heroics kept City in the game until he was eventually beaten by an own-goal from the on-loan Paul Hughes seven minutes from time.
"I scored in that game - I think it was my first league goal under Bruce Rioch. It was a fantastic time for me and I do remember Sutchy being thrown in between the sticks," recalled Russell.
"It has been a few years since I've been back there but I'm looking forward to seeing the stadium and looking forward to the game."
With Huddersfield's class of 2009-10 boasting a proud unbeaten home record in League One this season, Russell is well aware that Saturday's game is going to be one of the Canaries' tougher assignments in their run-in to the end of the campaign.
"They're one of the better teams in the league, they might have been going through a difficult patch recently but we've only got to go out and concentrate on what we are doing and that's to try and amass as many points as possible over the next 11 games.
"They've got a record there and I think every time they play a game they go one closer to getting beaten at home so hopefully that one closer is us on Saturday."
