“I’ve always quite enjoyed the underdog mentality to be honest with you,” he continued. “From where we are the lads are looking forward to it, the staff are looking forward to it. We will be well prepared and we are really pleased we managed to get through this one without extra time with the squad rotation being a big part of that. Everyone is looking forward to it.

“[The excitement] has probably been bubbling around outside the club rather than inside. We have been going from one place to another travelling, playing, recovering; travelling, playing, recovering. You don’t really think about it until it’s your next game.

“We won’t be preparing the team any differently to how we would for any other game. We always try to have a plan in place that we want to go and execute. Aston Villa are the favourites to win the tournament and rightly so with the budget that they have, but it’s an opportunity for us to go and enjoy a game the likes of which the club has rarely seen for a number of years.”