He featured in three cup games for Pompey last term.
Now Adam May hopes his appearance at Cardiff can be the springboard for a successful season at Fratton Park.
The teenage midfielder – who spent most of the 2016/17 campaign on loan at Sutton – played the full 120 minutes of an extra-time defeat in the Carabao Cup.
And he was certainly not complaining about the gruelling nature of a first round encounter in South Wales.
May said: “That’s what pre-season’s all about – you’ve got to get yourself ready for the new campaign.
"I was really happy to get the Pompey shirt back on again."
“I felt good out there, although obviously everyone’s going to tire a bit towards the end. That’s normal.
“I was really happy to get the Pompey shirt back on again. My spell out on loan last season helped a lot.
“There’s a fresh start now with a new manager in, so I know that I have to be ready to take my chances and try to stay in the team.”
Pompey took the lead through a Sean Morrison own-goal, only for strikes from former Blues players Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Greg Halford to turn the tie on its head.
May said: “I think that we can take plenty of positives from that because we played very well, especially in the first half.
“But we’re disappointed with the result and now we just need to focus on getting a good one on Saturday.
“We knew that Cardiff were very direct, but we picked up the second balls and if we’d created a few more chances, the second half might have been a little easier.
“They were obviously going to put us under some more pressure after the break and the gaffer warned us about that.
“At times we looked like the Championship side out there, but ultimately they made their pressure count in the end.”