He recalls: “That was an experience because you’re playing against arguably the best striker in the world, one of the best.
“In my games, PL2 and stuff like that, you’re not going to come up against a player who’s near his level.
“If you find a way to stop him then I think you’ll have a better chance when it comes to the normal games.
“I wouldn’t say it was nerve-racking, I would say excitement really. The whole point of playing football your whole life is to play for the first team.
“When you grow up and you’re watching these guys on telly, then you get the opportunity to train with them, it’s a good experience.
“You’ve obviously got to respect them. Sometimes you’ve got to fill numbers as part of the session, but when you get there you can’t have that mentality.
“You’ve got to have the mentality like, ‘I’m here to prove a point, show what I can do.’ You’ve just got to be ready whenever you get called upon.”
More from Meet the Academy…
Those moments are the kind Pinnington has been working towards ever since joining his boyhood club at U7 level.
More than a decade as a Red has brought some incredible experiences on and off the pitch.
“It feels like home,” he says. “I spend more time here than I do at my actual home. I’m still excited to come every day and it feels like a second home.
“We’ve had some good trips over the years, quite a lot. The best one I’d probably say was when we went to New York. That was a good experience.
“I’ve been a ballboy for quite a few games over the years. The best one, I always remember it, getting up and running down the line to the other ballboys was when [Divock] Origi scored that last-minute winner against Everton. That was the one that sticks with me the most.”
