PORT Vale manager Andy Crosby insists “underdogs don’t always lose” as his side prepare to face Middlesbrough in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Vale qualified for the last eight of the competition with a 1-0 win over Mansfield back in October and will now come up against Championship opposition at Vale Park as they take on Michael Carrick’s Boro for a place in the semi-final.

The League One outfit will feature in a first quarter-final in their 147-year history and will face a team higher than them in the football pyramid for the first time in this season’s competition.

Crosby knows his side are underdogs going into the clash but that has not stopped him from believing he can win.

He told a press conference: “We certainly can’t get involved in playing the occasion.

“It’s a football match against a team higher up than we are, a Championship side who have a rich history and won on Saturday.

“Football being what it is, there is always an upset and the underdogs don’t always lose and that’s the mindset we’re going into the game (with).

“We are going to attack this game, play on the front foot and try be the best version that we can be of ourselves and see what happens.”

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Middlesbrough will be coming into the match with a little more confidence after they ended a run of three straight league defeats with a 2-1 win over Swansea at the weekend.

Despite the difference in level between the two sides, Crosby wants his side to approach the game like any other.

He continued: “I don’t want the players to be overawed by the occasion, it’s just another game of football against a team in a higher division than we’d normally play.

“Underdogs win games sometimes and this club has a history of beating big teams.

“Things have to go right for you, we might need a bit of luck as well but we can compete in this game and that’s the bare minimum that I’ll be asking our players to do.”

A bumper crowd will greet the players on Tuesday and Crosby thinks the occasion should be one for everyone to savour.

He added: “It’s a game we are massively looking forward to since we beat Mansfield, which seems like a long time ago since we had that good night.

“For us to progress through to this stage is brilliant for this group of players and collectively I want everyone to enjoy this. I want the team to energise the crowd.

“No one expects us to win this game, only people who work in these four walls and support this football club, they’re the only people who think we’ve got a chance.”