Preston North End into quarter finals of FA Youth Cup after win over Luton Town

The young Lilywhites progressed thanks to goals from Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile, Finlay Cross-Adair and Kian Best – up next for North End is a home tie, against either Premier League sides Southampton or Fulham.

PNE returned to the scene of their Youth Alliance Cup final win last season, where they beat the Hatters 4-1, for a place in the last eight and the opportunity to play in PR1 but were behind after 17 minutes. Oli Lynch gave the home side the lead after a string of saves from PNE ‘keeper Tommy Davis. Jacob Vickers’ shot across goal squeezed under the young goalkeeper to allow Lynch to turn the ball home,

The visitors were behind for only nine minutes however, with Rodriguez-Gentile getting North End back on level terms. Kitt Nelson’s mishit effort wasn’t dealt with by Luton goalkeeper Sam Bentley, allowing the Brazilian nod the ball into the net, his seventh in the competition so far.

But PNE would have their lead back just before the break, thanks to Cross-Adair who was in the right place at the right time to score a rebound after Rordiguez-Gentile’s header was cleared off the line.

They were not allowed to take their lead into the half time interval however, Millar Matthews-Lewis getting his side back level.

North End would not stop though and Best did what Best does at the moment, and that is scoring a special goal for PNE. A corner was taken short and worked to the 17-year-old who found the top corner on his left foot, giving his side another slender lead which this time they kept.

The quarter final’s are set to be played on March 4, with the young Lilywhites set to find out their opponents on Tuesday evening.

Speaking about the victory after the game to PNE Academy’s Twitter page, 18-year-old defender Kian Taylor was not surprised he and his teammates were able to beat the Hatters at Kenilworth Road.

Despite the hosts flying high at the top of their league – averaging four goals a game – he still fancied his chances.

He said: "These are probably two of the best games I've played here, as a team. Last year we won the cup final here, it's the round of 16 FA Youth Cup to get into the quarter final which I don't think many Preston North End youth teams do. It's something special.

"There's a lot of quality in this group, all over the pitch. Even tonight - it wasn't about the performance tonight it was about winning, we knew that - but even still, I think we can go another level. What a night.

“Some people who would have looked at the game may have thought we were coming in as underdogs but I don't think the league shows where we are. We've had that many cup games, we've switched teams so many times, we've just not found that consistency that we did last year.

"I think we're in a false position in our league, we're as good as them if not better. We came into this thinking we were going to do them in their own backyard again and we have.”