Sean St Ledger sails into unchartered waters at Deepdale tonight when he turns out for Preston North End in the second round of the Carling Cup.
The centre-half has never been further than the opening round since he became a professional footballer six years ago.
His two clubs, Peterborough and Preston, have always fallen at the first hurdle.
So, having finally nailed his personal jinx, he is hoping this could be the year for North End to do something special.
"Obviously this is a competition that we could go far in," he said as he prepared to take on Derby County for a place in round three.
"We have home advantage and our Tuesday-night record has been tremendous.
"We are looking to win the game and then, in the third round, some more big teams come in.
"They don't always play their strongest sides so you just never know. We would certainly like a good run in it."
St Ledger was part of the North End side which brushed aside Chesterfield 2-0 in the first round two weeks ago.
Another win tonight and Alan Irvine's men would go into the hat with Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton.
The 23-year-old played against Premier League Derby in the FA Cup last season, but that remains his only taste of top-flight opposition so far in his career.
"Obviously you want to test yourself against better teams and better players and that's what I would like to do," he said.
"But we have got to get through this game and, even though they have dropped down to the Championship, I expect Derby will be difficult to beat.
"What happened last year at their place counts for very little. They have brought in quite a few new players since then and this will be a different team.
"Sure they have had a bad run. But these sort of games are always difficult because you don't want to be the team that breaks their duck."
North End go into tonight's tie still unbeaten this season, although it needed a second-half fightback to preserve that record at Hillsborough on Saturday.
A goal from Richard Chaplow, laid on by Ross Wallace and Chris Sedgwick, earned Irvine's battlers a point.
St Ledger says the comeback illustrates the spirit and character in the Preston squad.
But he also singled out the midfield as the department making things tick right now.
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