THE Checkatrade Trophy has finally got City talking.

Stuart McCall has noticed the difference as the competition heads towards Wembley. Five months on from a low-key opening group win against Stoke under-21s, the Bantams are taking a keen interest.

McCall said: "It's funny because even though the crowds have not improved, you listen to managers and players and they are talking about the end prize now.

"Even the players were asking 'who've we got in the draw' halfway through training. There is a little bit of interest.

"We probably started talking about how far we can go after Morecambe. We got a home tie thanks to topping the group and that was when we started really thinking about it.

"To be fair to Cambridge, they played well. But we got the win and that got us through."

Financially, the competition matters from here on in. The winners of tonight's tie at Cheltenham pocket £40,000 and that goes up to £50,000 in the quarter-finals. The eventual cup holder will receive £100,000 plus a hefty share of the Wembley gate receipts.

Barnsley proved last season that the Checkatrade Trophy does not hinder promotion ambitions. They beat Oxford in the final and returned to the national stadium two months later to win the play-offs.

McCall said: "You only have to look to what happened for Barnsley. It gave them a lift, they went and won it and carried that on to win promotion as well.

"We're potentially three rounds from Wembley, so we'll approach this as a game we want to win – and I wouldn't have been saying that at home against Stoke in the group stages."