Alex boss targets passge in Football League Trophy.

Crewe Alexandra boss, David Artell, says that his priority will always be the league but progression in any cup competition should ‘never be sniffed at’.

Crewe host Wigan Athletic this evening in our second of our Northern section group games and after Ben Knight’s late winner at Shrewsbury in game one, a win today over the in-form Latics would see us virtually through to the knockout stages.

Artell says that should be incentive enough with the winner of tonight’s game also bringing in £10,000 of prize money.

Ahead of our home cup tie with Wigan, Artell told us: “The incentive to get through to the next round should be an incentive enough. It is a chance to make progress in a competition that realistically we have a chance to get to the later stages of.

“The league will always be the priority and if you speak to 99.9% of managers in this league they will say the same, but a cup run can be a nice distraction as well. Our win at Shrewsbury was a timely one and gave us more confidence.

“Of course, if you can get to the later stages and you start talking about potential quarter and semi-finals, finals at Wembley then it gets very interesting. The prize money in this competition should not be sniffed at either. It’s £10,000 if you win and it all helps.

“The incentive is to win the game and get through with Wolves Under-21s still to play. We know that Wigan will be another tough game.

He added: “The draw wasn’t particularly kind to us again. We got two League One clubs, one of whom are top and Wolves Under-21s but it is what is it and we knew we were in a tough mini-league. It is another opportunity for us to work on things, try different things and perhaps look at one or two different players as well.”