Nicholls hopes to get the nod against Liverpool

The goalkeeper played in the opening round of the competition - the 2-2 draw and 4-2 penalty shootout win over AFC Wimbledon - before Stuart Moore took over between the posts for the second round win over Southend.

Nicholls, who grew up a Liverpool fan, admits he is frustrated with only keeping one clean sheet so far this season, but hopes he can do enough in the next few weeks to convince manager Paul Tisdale to give him the nod on September 25.

He said: “I can’t exactly say I’m over the moon, because I’ve only kept one clean sheet and I’d have liked to have kept a few more by this stage. It’s football and sometimes things go against you. Performance-wise, I’m quite happy with how I’ve played but there are still plenty of things that I need to improve on and the same goes for the team as well.”

“I was made up (with the draw). As soon as our name was pulled out, I had a feeling something big was going to happen and I was over the moon that it was Liverpool. There is a real buzz around the place.

"I have an opportunity to be selected for it and hopefully, I can do enough to get the nod and play against them. That said, as a footballer, we’ve got to put that to one side and we can’t let it affect our performances in training and in the matches coming up. We’ll come back to it as a later date.”