Tom Allan is hopeful Newcastle United Under-21s can get off to a positive start in the Leasing.com Trophy group stages as the young Magpies face Macclesfield Town.
United's second-string kick off their Northern Section Group D fixtures with a trip to Moss Rose on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.45pm BST) where Neil Redfearn's side face the League Two outfit who currently sit in seventh place.
This will be the third time Newcastle's Academy squad have participated in the tournament and Allan is targeting another impressive run in the competition after reaching the last 16 last term.
United meet Macclesfield for the second successive year after defeating the Silkmen in round two of last season's competition, winning via penalties after a gutsy draw at St. James' Park.
"It's a very important game," Allan told nufc.co.uk. "This year, we have a much younger team than we did at the start of last season. We done really well in the competition last year and the lads can take a lot from that and do the same this time round.
"The competition is really good for us as you get to play against senior teams at different grounds. It gives you a taste if you want to go out on loan and what it will be like. For a lot of the lads, especially the younger ones coming up, it might be a bit of a shock but last year, we adapted to it and managed to do very well. Hopefully, we'll be looking to do the same.
"We played against Macclesfield last year and we coped with them very well, drawing 1-1 and winning on penalties so there's nothing to say we can't go to their place and get a strong result.
"It's only been happening for a few years now but I think fans of the senior clubs don't think it is the best of ideas. For us, it is exactly what you want.
"You need to make that step at some point into men's football and it gives you that little taste of what will come if you are going to try to do that."
Allan came off the bench to net twice in last week's 2-1 league win at Fulham and the teenager believes his side's maiden victory of the season has installed much-needed confidence for the squad after three successive defeats in Premier League 2.
The Newcastle-born forward, who came on as a second-half substitute against the Cottagers, also expressed his delight in scoring a brace following his recent recovery from injury.
Allan added: "If you are going away and beating senior teams, you have that mentality that if you beat them, you can beat anyone in our league. We'll go there and give it everything we've got.
"We haven't started the season in the way we wanted but we got the win against Fulham. That's the main thing and hopefully we can kick on from there and see what happens on Tuesday.
"I came on at half-time but hadn't been training that much as I hurt my hamstring a couple of weeks ago. Neil (Redfearn) told me I'd be coming at half-time and luckily it couldn't have went much better. The most important thing was getting the win.
"It was great to score twice after coming back from an injury. You want to make an impact coming off the bench but to score the equaliser and then score the winner was a bit of a shock but a very good feeling."
Tickets for the game at Moss Rose are available at the turnstiles, priced at £10 for adults and £5 for over-65s and under-25s, with tickets for under-18s priced at £2.