Former Preston boss David Moyes almost endured a bizarre feeling of deja vu as his West Ham United side only just scraped past Kidderminster Harriers in the FA Cup.
Top-four chasing West Ham were expected to swat non-league Harriers aside but fell behind to an Alex Penny opener.
It took West Ham until injury-time to bag the equaliser with Declan Rice striding forward to slam home a superb goal.
The game went to extra time, and with penalties looming, Jarrod Bowen popped up with virtually the last kick of the game to send West Ham through.
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Many feel sorry for Kidderminster after their heroic effort against the Hammers, but this game will feel familiar to Preston fans and Moyes.
Back in 1994, Preston travelled to Kidderminster in the fourth round of FA Cup. Then pushing for promotion to the second tier, North End were expected to win fairly comfortably.
The trip to Aggborough proved troublesome though, and Preston fell to an embarrassing 1-0 defeat thanks to Delwyn Humphrey’s second half goal.
The final whistle sparked a pitch invasion as Kidderminster celebrated their relative giant-killing, and the game remains up there as one of Preston’s darkest FA Cup days – alongside the 1989 defeat to Whitley Bay.
In the Preston team and playing the full 90 minutes on that day was Moyes, who was in the heart of the North End back line.
Just four years later, Moyes began his managerial career with North End and few could have blamed him for never wanting to head back to Kidderminster again.
On Saturday, Moyes will have been fearing a repeat of Preston’s dismal defeat some 28 years ago.
West Ham got out of jail in the end, but Moyes was so, so close to experiencing that 1994 loss all over again.