This time last year, not many people knew who Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile was. But suddenly a five-goal haul in the FA Youth Cup third round threw his name into the public domain.
North End’s Argentine forward, who was just 16 at the time, was a late call-up to the starting XI for the match against Rotherham United, but what an inclusion it would turn out to be.
Scoring all-but-one of PNE’s six goals on a bitterly-cold afternoon at Deepdale, the youngster was soon attracting worldwide attention, and he went on to finish as one of the competition’s top scorers with seven in total.
Now as a first-year scholar, he'll be hoping to make more memories in this year's competition, with Coventry City coming to Deepdale on Wednesday evening.
Felipe said: “To be honest it was really special. I didn’t know the importance of the game I was coming to, and then after that win it was crazy.
“The five goals, all the attention, and obviously the boys were happy and then we ended up having a great run as well so it was really special last year.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been working on this game so everyone’s really motivated, really excited, so I’m sure everyone’s going to be buzzing for it.
“Everyone’s going to be giving 150% and it’s going to be a good game for us.”
At the other end of the pitch, goalkeeper Tommy Davis also had a big part to play in PNE’s run to the quarter-finals last term.
Now a second-year scholar and a regular starter in between the sticks, he’s had his eyes on this match for a long time.
“Obviously it’s the main competition for us as youth players,” he said. “As soon as you start the season it’s like, ‘I can’t wait for the Youth Cup’.
“It’s a great opportunity for me and the rest of the team to play at Deepdale under the lights, against a good opposition, with hopefully a few fans there so it’s one of the highlights of the year.
“I think it’s a good one for the fans to try come down and watch. We score a lot of goals.
“At the start of the season, we conceded a few as well but we’ve tightened up at the back and now we’ve been doing well so hopefully we can continue that.”
Midfielder Max Wilson has also had this date in mind for a while, and when he picked up an injury in October, his target was always to be back and ready in time to play in this one.
The first-year scholar was part of last year’s campaign even as an U16 but is likely to have an even bigger role to play this season in the middle of the park.
Max said: “I’ve been there. I know what it’s like, what the pressure’s like, what the standard’s like, and playing in a stadium is just a different environment.
“You can’t hide. You’ve got to play out of your skin to be successful.
“You can’t let the pressure get to you otherwise you can go missing and you don’t need that. We need to be a team on Wednesday night to get through.
“It’s always in the back of your mind that you’ve got people to impress and it’s the biggest stage I’ll play on all year. It’s your time to perform.”