It will be familiar surroundings for Shamal George on Friday night, as the U's visit his home town club Tranmere Rovers.
His very early days on the path towards becoming a professional keeper started at Prenton Park, and he is expecting a tough test this weekend.
Speaking about those first steps in his career, the twenty three year old said: "The ground was ten minutes from my house so it's properly my neck of the woods."
"Tranmere was the first proper club I was at, when I was eight. The goalkeeping coach there moved to Liverpool's Academy and took me with him when I was ten."
When asked if they were living a bit in the shadows of the two giants in the city, Shamal countered: "Of course they've got Liverpool and Everton there, but they've got a great fanbase and there's no hiding the fact that they are a big club so it's going to be a real challenge going up there."
The U's travel up to the North West hoping to bounce back from the defeat against Salford City last weekend, and Shamal has been working hard after revisiting the game itself.
"I've watched the game back and the performance clearly wasn't us. It was our worst performance this season and we want to put it behind us on Friday.
"I watched the whole game the day after so I could analyse my game and see where I can improve, and to see if there's any pointers I can give to the defenders from it."
As well as growing up close to Prenton Park, he also spent time there on loan.
He admits that it was a good learning experience for him as a developing keeper, but it wasn't the best time of his career from a playing point of view.
"I went there with the intention of playing a lot, but within a few weeks of being there, the keeper who they thought would be out for six months through injury came back in and that killed me a bit."
"Me being on the sidelines there for six months was all part of my experience and you've got to keep your mentality right and have yourself motivated through those times.
"Yes, it educated me on that side of things but it's not something I want to go through again."
The game kicks off at 7.45pm on Friday evening, and can be watched live on iFollow for £10, available in the UK as well as abroad.
It's not too late to be at Prenton Park and cheer the U's on in person though, get your tickets directly from the Tranmere Rovers ticketing website.