Influential midfielder Stephen McPhail has held the Captains armband now for a number of weeks, as Darren Purse has yet to regain his first team place - and McPhail will be looking forward to the possibility of making it to the cup final with the squad of players at his side.

"The lads are all up for it and the camp is very confident at the moment," he said during a hectic press day at the Vale on Wednesday, where the first team squad met the assembled national press. "We met up this morning and did a warm down session after a tough game against West Brom. The energy around the place is very good at the moment and all the lads are looking forward to the game, now that we can concentrate on it.

"I've been involved in other cup semi finals and I haven't had much luck in them. As a youngster you can let everything overpower you and get caught up in the media. But these lads are very focused and I would love to go one further and make it to a final."

With the Bluebirds taking on Barnsley, McPhail's involvement has taken further interest due to his time with the club prior to joining Cardiff City. But despite the fondness Macca still has for the Reds, he denies that the event has been made even sweeter.

"I have been asked this question about the Barnsley link all afternoon," he told us. "But it really doesn't matter who we play - our job is to get to the final and that's all that counts. I had a very enjoyable time at Barnsley and I have good memories, but as I said it doesn't matter if it is Barnsley or Manchester Untied. We want to win and come back to Wembley in May."

The travelling blue army will be making the trip up the M4 on the weekend, and the atmosphere that they can generate is something that McPhail believes can make the difference.

He said, "The fans here at Cardiff are superb. They make so much noise. Ninian Park is rocking with a fraction of the numbers that are travelling on Sunday, so I'm sure that it will be a great atmosphere with both sets of supporters enjoying the day. I hope we can give our fans something more to cheer about. Let's hope we can embark on som Cardiff City history in the making."

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