It was the moment Ryan Jarvis properly announced himself to the Norwich City public.

Trailing by two goals to the mighty Liverpool, City's faithful had all but lost hope as they faced up to a relegation battle in 2005.

Then it happened.

The youngster from Fakenham picked up the ball on the right, cut in past Djimi Traore, and unleashed the kind of left-footed drive that wouldn't look out of place in a Roy of the Rovers comic strip.

However, Jarvis explains that he didn't have long to savour the moment.

'Thirty seconds later Flem (Craig Fleming) was in my ear having a go for not tracking back or something! That soon brought me back down to earth.

'Seriously though that was one of the biggest highlights of my career – it was just a shame that we didn't get anything out the game.

'It was a special day and I remember watching it on Match of the Day that night.

'I thought I would kick on from there but for whatever reason it didn't happen for me at Norwich.

'I didn't get as many chances in the team as I would have liked and had to move on.'

Jarvis personifies just how difficult it is for a local youngster to make the breakthrough at a Premier League club and, in the end, it proved impossible.

However, he will always be grateful for the grounding he received at Carrow Road that paved the way for a career in the Football League.

'It's probably one of the best academies you can be brought up in and I just loved every minute of it,' said Jarvis, who has just started coaching with the Community Sports Foundation at the club. 'But it's tough for young players coming through. It's such a results business and it's difficult for managers to give youngsters that chance they need.

'They have to play better than their older team-mates consistently which is very difficult to do when you're young. You are a bit inconsistent when you're coming through because you're still learning the ropes.

'You need 10 games or so to establish yourself and you very rarely get that.

'That's why players have to go out on loan and prove themselves, just like the Murphy twins (Josh and Jacob) are doing at the moment.'

Jarvis went on to have a decent career in the Football League but with a young family in tow decided to drop out of the professional game last summer at the age of 29 to sign for Lowestoft Town.

Jarvis had offers to stay in the Football League but decided to look at the bigger picture and come home to Norfolk and play with the ever-growing Norwich contingent, including his brother Rossi, at Crown Meadow.

'I'm just at a time in my life when I want to be back home,' he said. 'A lot of people say you should play as high as you can for as long as you can but you have to weigh up your options.

'I've got a young family and they live in Norwich and I was finding myself spending more and more time travelling and getting more and more tired doing it.

'I love being at Lowestoft. It's been a bit up and down this season but it's been so great to play with all my old mates – Crowy (Danny Crow), Eags (Robert Eagle), Smudge (Adam Smith), Fisky (Andrew Fisk) and my brother.

'I just felt it was time to come home.'

While Jarvis heads to FC United this weekend with the Trawlerboys, he will have half an eye on Norwich's Premier League clash against Liverpool.

His prediction? 'Well they haven't got Suarez anymore have they? They (Liverpool) are struggling to score goals at the moment so hopefully Norwich can get something out the game. Hopefully someone can pull a goal out like me but with a different result this time.'