Bradford City boss Mark Hughes says his side are not getting ahead of themselves by thinking about Wembley before they take on Carlisle United.

The Bantams host the Blues in tonight's League Two play-off semi-final first leg.

And Hughes - who feels being at home first gives his side the chance to set the tone in the tie - has warned against the dangers of looking too far ahead before the double-header against Paul Simpson's United.

“There is that danger and people will mention it,” he said of a Wembley final. “I just sense we’re very much focused on the next game and we have been for a number of weeks now.

“It was always about ‘who’s the next one in front of us’ and that doesn’t change.

“It’s still about the next game rather than getting too far ahead because then things can run away from you.

“There’s no chance of us looking further ahead than the game tomorrow. There’s too much danger to look too far ahead.”

Hughes believes he knows what to expect from Carlisle, who drew 0-0 at Valley Parade in March having beaten the Bantams 1-0 at Brunton Park on Boxing Day.

He also believes being at home first gives Bradford the chance to "dictate" the path of the semi-final.

“Everybody knows what they are likely to do, the make-up of the squad and who’s available and who isn’t. You get a fair idea which way a team’s going to go," Hughes added of United.

“Then it’s about performance and executing your game-plan on the pitch rather than just talking about it and illustrating it on the training field.

“It’s all about guys stepping up and making sure they perform at the right level.

“There’s that old cliché that you can’t win a tie in the first leg but you can lose it.

“You’ve got to be mindful of that. Don’t give yourself too much to do going into the second game.

“I’d suggest that the first leg will be different to the second but we’ll have to wait and see.

“Things on the night can change very quickly. We’ve just got to make sure we’re in a position to get through.

“We’ve got the opportunity to dictate the outcome of the tie right from the off, given we’re at home first.”