John Ruddy enjoying ride on Wolves' FA Cup rollercoaster

The 32-year-old, who had never got past the FA Cup third round before this season, has been between the sticks throughout Wolves’ journey to the last eight.

And Nuno, a keeper himself, has confirmed Ruddy will be the man in goal against Manchester United – and the semis and the final if they make it.

Ruddy, though, said: “There’s never been a conversation about it.

“I think, obviously, going to back to last year when I was playing in the league, Will (Norris) had all the cup games.

“I think that’s something the manager is keen on. He doesn’t want people to be out in the cold, and that’s why we have a small squad.

“He wants everyone to feel involved and everyone to realise that if one person’s coming out, you’re in.

“That’s the mentality we’ve got. Everybody knows if there is an injury or drop in form, someone else is there to make sure they will execute the game as the manager wants to play it.

“I think that’s been a really good driving force over the last couple of years.”

Ruddy is confident Wolves can at least give United a good run for their money based on their record against top teams.

Wolves drew 1-1 with United in the Premier League earlier this season.

That point is one of 10 Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have picked up against top six sides, while also beating Liverpool in the FA Cup third-round.

And assessing that run going into tonight’s Cup quarter-final, Ruddy said: “A lot of it is the consistency within the group.

“Having a small squad, but a squad of quality, no matter what opponent you’re coming against, you always have that core group of players that know their roles down to a tee.

“That’s been vital. We always have a comfort blanket of the defensive structure. We make it very hard to be broken down. But we also have that threat going forward. That pace and guile going forward.

“We showed against Chelsea we can be under the cosh for much of the game, but never fear we’re going to be undone.

“We’re solid, hard to break down, create chances on the counter-attack.

“That has been a key when playing against the bigger teams who like to dominate possession.

"We are happy to let them do that knowing that we are solid and that we can cause them problems."

Ruddy was handed a start against Cardiff in the Premier League a couple of weeks ago to shake off any ring rust ahead of this huge tie, and he kept a clean sheet.

On how useful that game was, he said: “It was nice to have a league game, to keep a clean sheet against a team fighting for their lives.

“I felt confident, strong, felt good going into the game.”

And on the Cup run, he added: “I’d only played two Cup games at Norwich, lost both, so it’s been good to have a run.

“There has been a different challenge every game. In those games, though, we’ve shown we can match the best teams, we’ve shown we can dominate teams, and we’ve shown that bit of bite and aggression.”