RYAN Lowe has urged his players not to get distracted by the prospect of playing at Wembley – despite struggling not to think about it himself.

After drawing with Lincoln last Saturday, third-placed Bury aim to keep the pressure on the League Two leaders at home to Crawley this Saturday.

But they could get to a cup final this term, as well as challenging for promotion, having reached the Checkatrade Trophy semi-finals.

The Shakers were drawn at home to Portsmouth, who only slipped off the top of League One last weekend, with the game to be played on Tuesday, February 26.

“I’m just happy it’s a home tie,” said Bury boss Lowe. “Portsmouth are a big club and Kenny Jackett is doing a fantastic job down there.

“It’ll be a tough game, we know that, but I think they’ll be thinking it’s a tough game also because of the way we’ve been playing.

“I’d like to say I’m getting carried away because Wembley’s only one game away but we can’t do that.

“We’ve got to be level-headed about it, and we’ve got to respect the opposition and the club because they are a massive club with great players and a great manager so all we can do is, when the time comes, just worry about us and hopefully we can get where we want to get to.”

Lowe handed Jordan Hulme his first professional contract last week after making his first-team debut this season.

The 18-year-old arrived from Manchester City in February 2017 and helped Bury reach the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup last season for the first time in 52 years.

The Shakers have repeated the feat this term, with Hulme featuring in their fourth-round win against Peterborough, and the date for Bury’s trip to Preston in the next round has been confirmed for next Friday, February 8.

“It means the world to him,” said Lowe. “We’ve got big plans for him and I think he can go right to the top – he’s got that much talent.”