Joe Nolan lived his childhood dream by scoring a goal at Deepdale, volleying in Preston North End’s opener during their FA Youth Cup win against Bristol City U18.
The midfielder sent a perfectly timed volley from the edge of the area into the bottom corner of the goal to open the scoring before half time at Deepdale - his second long-range strike this season, after scoring the pick of the bunch in the young Lilywhites’ 6-0 win against Accrington Stanley.
North End sealed their place in the next round of the cup thanks to another volley, where Jacob Holland-Wilkinson this time meeting a long pass before firing the ball back across goal and into the back of the net.
The 2-0 win has set up a match in the next round against either Oxford United or Maidenhead United.
“It’s an unreal feeling,” Nolan said. “I’ve been here since I was nine years old. I’ve dreamed about playing at Deepdale and scoring a goal. I was ecstatic when I scored and I didn’t know what to do, so I ended up just doing a knee slide.
“We were good in the first half. Then in the second half they came high and put a lot of pressure on us, but I thought we dealt with it well and grabbed another goal as well. It was a great strike by Jacob [Holland-Wilkinson].”
Nick Harrison’s side have won their last six games across all competitions - remaining unbeaten for another three.
Nolan added: “We were good in the first half. Then in the second half, they came high and put a lot of pressure on us, but I thought we dealt with it well and grabbed another goal as well. It was a great strike by Jacob [Holland-Wilkinson].
“We were good as a unit. We were strong, we were solid, that’s what we’ve worked on. It was good to take that out onto the pitch, which is what the manager’s been telling us to do.
“Confidence was very high. We know what we can do so if we take that onto the field and play well, like we’ve just done then, we have a chance against anyone really if we put in a shift like that.”