Rickie Lambert all set to make his mark internationally for England

Rickie Lambert

Southampton star Rickie Lambert made his first appearance as an England squad member yesterday in training. He will be playing for England in a friendly against Scotland on Wednesday.

Though he has been listed in the squad due to a limited number of striking options left open with manager Roy Hodgson, he is determined to be back again in the international set-up.

The Southampton striker’s call-up was announced last Thursday while he rested after a sleepless night due to his wife’s delivery of their third child.

The call came in as a surprise to him.”I knew England were playing Scotland but I had forgotten about it,” he said, “and I didn’t know when the squad was being announced until I got the phone call.”

The striker who had scored 15 goals for Southampton in the League last season, has had a very struggling past until he became a star for the Saints. He had worked in a beetroot factory after Blackpool had released him in 2000. His struggle took a different path when he was signed in by Southampton in 2009 for £1m.

“It was basically when Alan Pardew, the Southampton manager at the time, told me I wasn’t as professional as I should have been,” he said.

“That stuck in my brain. And from then I was determined never to be like that again. I’ve got to give so much credit to Southampton. The fitness coach and the physio there changed me physically.”

This is the inspiration due to which he is still undeterred in his determination of making a mark.