FIGHTING for a place in England’s World Cup squad might be tough work for ex-York City loan keeper Nick Pope but it beats riding a milk float in the early hours of the morning.

Burnley net-minder Pope has been handed a maiden call-up for the forthcoming friendlies against Holland and Italy, joining Joe Hart, Jordan Pickford and Jack Butland in battling for three seats on the plane to Russia.

Fans of the Minstermen, though, first recognised his international potential when he displayed inspirational form during the club’s unlikely march to the League Two play-offs in 2013/14.

After arriving on loan from Charlton, Pope made his first Football League start at the age of 21 for City in a 2-1 defeat at Southend in November of that campaign.

He had previously only managed 14 senior appearances during spells at Cambridge United and Aldershot in the National League and featured once as a 71st-minute substitute for Charlton in the Championship.

Pope’s City career, meanwhile, looked to have initially finished almost as quickly as it had started, when he was recalled by the Addicks after just one more outing – a 0-0 draw at Morecambe.

He returned, though, in the New Year to help lift the from the depths of a relegation fight to League Two’s top six, even though fewer goals were scored during that second half of the campaign.

In total, Pope would keep 16 clean sheets in 24 matches for City, including seven 0-0 draws and seven 1-0 victories.

Fast-forward four years and Pope is the least experienced – both at Premier League and international level - of the goalkeeping quartet called up for tonight’s clash against Holland and the meeting with Italy on Tuesday.

But he is enjoying by far the best season with long-term number one Hart failing to nail down a place at West Ham and his closest rivals suffering from the disappointing form of Everton and Stoke.

Pope faces a further challenge at Turf Moor where club captain Tom Heaton – who was part of Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad – is returning to fitness after the long-term shoulder injury which first opened the door to his 25-year-old understudy.

But a glance at Pope’s CV, even prior to his stint in North Yorkshire, shows he has never had it easy.

Let go by boyhood club Ipswich as a teenager, he went on to study business marketing and sports science at college, making ends meet with part-time jobs and resurfacing in football in the non-league hinterlands with Bury Town.

“Obviously when you get released at 16 you think making it here is a far possibility,” he said.

“But it allowed me to get into the men’s game and play men’s football at that young age which helped me springboard and helped me grow as a player.

“I had a couple of jobs alongside… I worked in Next and on a milk round. I was on an electric float, a 4am-er in Soham. It didn’t pay much.”

After taking in his new surroundings at the lavishly appointed St George’s Park, Pope was also invited to reminisce about his experiences lower down the ladder.

As with the likes of Jamie Vardy and Rickie Lambert before him, Pope saw plenty of football’s less glamorous side before earning his international spurs.

“I’ve played in some cold, dark leagues. I was in Bury Town Reserves in the Essex and Suffolk Border League, I think that was tier seven,” he said.

“Brightlingsea was a rough one. I hope the people of Brightlingsea don’t mind. Little Oakley…some places you need a map. (It was) 10 people and a dog.

“It’s been a hard ride. But you have to prove yourself at every level to get to the next one.”

Now, after a revelatory campaign which has seen him register ten clean sheets since taking over from the stricken Heaton in September, he is looking to make one last leap into new territory.

Whether it comes in Amsterdam or at Wembley against the Azzurri or even on the biggest stage of all in Russia, Pope has his eyes on the big prize.

“There’s got to be one number one (with England) and I want it to be me, who wouldn’t?” he said. “It’s a massive honour.

“You’ve got to be hungry in football and you’ve got to be greedy as well. It’s a new challenge and a challenge I want to take on.

“It’s obviously a day I never thought I’d see come and, now it has, it’s massive elation for me and everyone close to me.”