SAM Allardyce played the psychological card today when he piled the pressure on FA Cup rivals Aston Villa. As Wanderers started their Wembley warm-up by getting away from it all at a Leicestershire hideaway, the manager lifted the weight of expectation from his own players and dumped it on John Gregory's doorstep.

"There's no pressure at all on us," he insisted. "We're the huge underdogs of the competition.

"John Gregory said himself that Chelsea and Newcastle would both have loved to have had the draw he's got.

"Apart from the people in this town, everyone thinks Sunday's semi-final is a foregone conclusion.

"But all the pressure's on John and Villa. They failed pretty miserably, like we did, in the Worthington Cup semi-finals when they went out to Leicester and we went out to Tranmere. We both under-achieved but in their case the disappointment was deeper because they are the Premiership side and their expectations are much higher than ours.

"Now the pressure's on them to make up for that and that's something that could be a burden" Wanderers travelled to Leicestershire yesterday after keeping alive their hopes of a promotion play-off place with a 2-1 win against Port Vale at the Reebok - their third win in eight days.

It was not the comfortable win their first half superiority merited but it was a result that maintained confidence in the camp with top scorer Eidur Gudjohnsen taking his total to 18 for the season and the ever-improving Allan Johnston scoring his second in successive games.

Allardyce was mildly critical of his players for failing to convert the scoring chances that should have put the game beyond relegation-haunted Vale by half time but his minor reservations about the performance failed to take the shine off his enthusiasm as he looked forward to his first visit to Wembley as a manager. "I hope we do Wembley justice," he said. "I hope we can put up a good game and, in the end, we are deserved winners. If we can't do that I hope we are the luckiest beggars in the world and win 1-0."

Wanderers' semi-final squad will be boosted by the return of skipper Mike Whitlow after a two-match suspension and could also be bolstered further if Paul Warhurst continues his speedy recovery after having more than 20 stitches in a calf wound he suffered in last week's home win against Sheffield United.

"Paul has a reasonable chance," Allardyce confirmed. "He's on antibiotics because of the size and nature of the wound. Obviously we have to worry about infection. But he has a good opportunity of being fit."

Allan Johnston and Paul Ritchie, who are preparing with Scotland for Wednesday's friendly international against France at Hampden, will team up with the Wembley squad on Thursday.

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