First leg performance key, says Danny

With memories of sitting in the stands at Wembley as a member of our Academy set-up and watching our League Cup triumph in 2008 still clear in his mind, Danny Rose would love nothing more than to help us reach those heights again.

The left-back arrived at the Club from Leeds United as a teenager the year before our memorable 2-1 triumph over Chelsea at the national stadium.

But the 24-year-old is under no illusions as to the stiff challenge we’ll face if we’re to make it to the final this season.

Our two-legged semi-final with Sheffield United gets underway at White Hart Lane on Wednesday evening, with Danny targeting a positive performance to give us a vital advantage going into next week’s return at Bramall Lane.

“I can remember going to watch the game at Wembley when we won this competition in 2008 – it really is the best day out ever when you go to that stadium, not just for yourself but for your whole family,” said the Doncaster-born left-sider.

“We won that day as well, the celebrations after the game were just brilliant and it’s something I want to be involved in again.

“But we can’t take this next game against Sheffield United lightly if we want to do that. They’ve beaten a handful of Premier League sides in cup competitions recently so we’ve got to be at our best to get past them.”

While remaining confident in our ability to see off our League One opponents, Danny sees a distinct positive in playing the first leg on familiar soil.

“I’m glad that we’ve got the home game first so we can hopefully get a good result, because we know it will be a difficult game at Bramall Lane,” he added.

“We all know that anything can happen in one game of football but over two legs our class throughout the whole squad should shine through so we need to make sure we get the job done over the two games.”