Preston North End v Huddersfield Town: Matt Lowton leans on his experience as romance and reality combine

And while the FA Cup is more about romance than the reality of a Championship relegation battle, it has taught the defender never to stop believing.

Lowton fondly remembers running onto the Saltergate pitch in celebration as he followed then third-tier Chesterfield on a highly-improbable FA Cup run which took them to with a replay of the FA Cup final in 1997.

"I've always enjoyed the FA Cup," says the former Sheffield United full-back. "My dad used to take me as a Chesterfield fan and we got to the semi-finals in 1997.

"I think I went to every round. As we got further and further people were saying we had no chance but we beat Forest at home with a penalty. I remember it like it was yesterday and the Wrexham game at Saltergate when I ran on the pitch after in pure elation."

But it is the memory of beating the odds season after season at Burnley when the Clarets were tipped for relegation which will probably serve him best as he joins a Huddersfield team in the Championship's bottom three on loan until the end of the season.

"It is definitely about not panicking," he says. "We've still got a lot of games to go.

"It's always about sticking together because you need everybody.

"I see a lot of similarities with the manager (Mark Fotheringham and Burnley's Sean Dyche) and that was one of the things that drew me. there was the intensity in training, which is just what I needed."

"I'm looking forward to a match at the weekend, which I've not been able to do. I can't wait to get back into the nerves before the game."