Port Vale host League One side Shrewsbury Town tomorrow evening in the Checkatrade Trophy Round of 16 and despite being just three games away from Wembley, Danny Pugh says it's "a bit early to be thinking of that" and the team are only focused on winning tomorrow night's tie.

Pughey featured in all the group stage games of the Checkatrade Trophy for the Valiants and even marked the occasion with a goal in the 2-1 win over Walsall.

The away win set up Round 1 of the knockout stages at Vale Park, where we beat Stoke City's Under 21s 4-0 back in December in front of over 8000 people.

Vale welcome The Shrews to Vale Park in hope that they can continue their 100% winning record in the Checkatrade Trophy this season. A win would leave the Vale just two games away from a Wembley appearance and Pugh insists it's a competition the Vale are fully committed to and want to progress in.

"It's a big game, it's a game we want to win. I think early on in the competition I think people take it quite lightly. I'm not saying we have but I think a lot of other clubs do, but the further you go on in the competition, yes we're in a good position now with a great result in the last round and we want to win the game.

"It's a bit early to be thinking of Wembley now but obviously if we got that opportunity it's brilliant. It's a bit early to be talking about Wembley, we'll take Tuesday's game as it comes but like I said it's a big game for us and it's a game we definitely want to win.

"You want to win games, you want to get that consistency and get a good run of results. The cup's no different, obviously the league's our priority but we want a good run in the cup."

Of all the years Danny Pugh has been playing professional football the 2018/2019 season will be a unique one for him out of them all, as the start of the season it saw him take a step towards management. 

The midfielder is still contracted to play for the club, but has also been taking the time to learn his management trade under Neil Aspin and has acted in a player/coach role for the majority of the season. 

Though Pughey is keen to go into management once he retires from football, he insists he is still match fit and looking to get as many minutes under his belt for the Vale this season as possible. 

"I would like to play and I still want to play, I still feel OK and that I can do a job. The coaching's been brilliant for me and I appreciate that I've been given the chance to do this side of things. 

"I've enjoyed doing it so far. I've still been training, playing and doing little bits but the coaching side is something I've enjoyed and it's been good.

"At the moment it's the natural progression as I've been looking at it for the past couple of years. It's something I've been doing a lot more of over the past two, three years and maybe this year it's gone one step more."

Ticket details for tomorrow evenings Checkatrade Trophy fixture against Shrewsbury Town can be found by clicking here.