It's certainly been a dramatic ride in the Premier League Cup for our Under-18s, who are preparing for their Semi-Final against Leicester City.
Let's take a look at their route so far in the competition.
Their cup campaign got under way midway through September, but it was one to forget for Ali Melloul's particularly young lineup, who lost 3-1 to Stoke City. Three first half goals for the Potters gave us a mountain to climb, before Lemar Gordon grabbed a consolation goal from the penalty spot.
With each side only playing each opponent once (in groups of four), our lads needed to ensure they found wins in their next couple of games to have any chance of progression.
Just under a month later, game two arrived as Leeds United made their way down to Motspur Park. It's fair to say our spectators were treated to an absolute cracker.
Twice our boys went behind, but they simply refused to let their heads drop. Leeds took a very early lead, but striker Jaylan Wildbore scored a stunning left-footed goal to get us level 20 minutes in. The visitors regained the lead on 47 minutes, but this time, up stepped Gordon to hammer home his second PL Cup goal with just 15 minutes left on the clock.
The two sides battled for control in what was a physical, competitive game of football. To everyone's relief, Olly Sanderson was on hand to fire home what proved to be the winning goal on the 77-minute mark. A huge (and much needed) victory for the young Whites.
With only the winners from each group (plus the highest ranked second placed side) progressing, we needed nothing short of a win against Tottenham Hotspur to stand any chance.
They didn't let the pressure effect them and put in a relentless performance, smashing Spurs 4-0 to finish the group stage in second place and on six points. Our Academy coaching staff and players could do nothing but wait anxiously for other results to come in and for the goal difference to be calculated.
Four other runners up, including the likes of Liverpool and Southampton, also finished on six points but with our lads racking up a goal difference of +3, we took the remaining Quarter-Final spot.
It wasn't about to get any easier for Melloul's boys, who were drawn against a Manchester City side looking for their third successive competition win. This was to be the second time in two seasons we'd face the young Cityzens, having previously lost 3-1 in the U18 National Final.
We came out the brighter of the two sides in the opening 15 minutes, creating a couple of minor opportunities. Major chances were few and far between and it took until the 56th minute for the deadlock to be broken. Luke Harris pounced on a sloppy ball to fire us ahead, before later heading home to increase our lead with just nine minutes remaining.
Our 18s worked their socks off and held on to record what would be a memorable Academy victory.
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Leicester City are all that stands between our youngsters and a spot in the Premier League Cup final.
We're all behind you, boys!
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