Darren Huckerby will wear the colours of Norwich City again on Tuesday night when he plays in Adam Drury's testimonal match against Celtic.

Huckerby hasn't played for City since his five-and-a-half year stay ended in the summer of 2008.

It gives the unlikely partners-in-crime an opportunity to reform a lethal alliance down the left flank.

Huckerby the extrovert with the changing hairstyles, the streak of blond, the turn of pace that left defenders for dead. Drury the quiet man who has hardly changed in the 11 years he has been a Norwich City player – consistent, like his football.

They proved that opposites do attract – starting when Huckerby moved to Norwich at the end of 2003 and only ending when he left in the summer of 2008.

Their alliance wasn't restricted to the pitch – the Huckerby and Drurys families are close to this day.

'We just got on straight away,' says Huckerby.

'You don't always like the people you play with, but Ads is lucky, everyone likes him and will do anything for him.

'We are big mates. Obviously we spent a lot of time playing together but also off the pitch our families are pretty close.

'He is a great guy and in this day and age to play 11 years is not easy, especially when there is always someone younger trying to take your position. But he has seen a lot off down the years, probably 15 players, which is testament to how good a footballer he actually is.'

It was the trust between the two that brought success.

'You know he could handle whatever was coming at him and that meant I could push up. Sometimes he had two men coming at him but one-on-one there was nobody better.

'I look at it this way – I could take care of their full back because he wasn't going to push on because he was too scared and I was sure Adam could deal with their right winger.

'I haven't seen many players one on one go past him down the outside and I am talking about Ronaldo, Nani, Shaun Wright-Phillips, all the rapid players. He just has a way of positioning himself and defending well. Like I say to him he is an ugly version of Gary Neville. That is how I like to remember him. He was seven or eight out of 10 every single week without fail. You know what you are going to get with Ads – it is never a worry when he plays.'

The bandy legs have been the victim of Huckerby's humour many a time, and while Drury's habit of losing teeth also gets its fair share of stick, it's clearly tinged with seem admiration.

'He is one of those lads who would stick his face in the way of a tackle for you – that is something you can't instil in people. Some people have it, some don't but Ads has definitely got that it – that's why he has lost all his front teeth. I think it was against Crystal Palace and it might have been (James) Scowcroft who knocked his teeth out in the first 10 seconds. There was me thinking, crikey, what's going on here, but he just bent down, picked his teeth up off the pitch and got on with the game.

'Adam Drury isn't the sort of guy who lets you down.'

n Tickets for the testimonial are on general sale: go to www.canaries.co.uk, call 0844 826 1902 or visit the ticket office at Carrow Road or the Canary Store in The Mall Norwich.