Scunthorpe goalkeeper Joe Murphy is aware his side are in for the trickiest of tests at Manchester City tomorrow but is nevertheless hopeful they can pull off a cup upset.

The Premier League club are overwhelming favourites to emerge victorious from the Carling Cup fourth-round tie against a side who won promotion to the Championship through the play-offs.

Murphy admits his team-mates are only thinking of enjoying themselves and not worrying about the result but claims they will still have half an eye on a quarter-final berth.

"It'll be tough," he said. "We were looking at their squad earlier and we had a little giggle. All those multi-million pound players and that.

"But you never know what can happen. It's cup football. It's all about shocks and it'll be one of the biggest cup shocks if we beat them.

"We just have to try and stay in the game and you never know. Cup football is like a lottery."

City will once again be without the injured Robinho.

And, while Murphy admits it is somewhat disappointing not to be facing the Brazil ace, the Republic of Ireland international knows their opponents' lineup will still boast plenty of star names.

"You always want to face the best players in the world and he's probably one of the biggest names in football," he continued. "But someone like Craig Bellamy or Adebayor or Roque Santa Cruz will step in.

"I'm sure whoever comes in will be brilliant and it'll be interesting to see how far away we are from that level. It would have been nice to have one of the best footballers on the pitch."

Scunthorpe head into the tie on the back of a tough series of games which saw them beat Sheffield United and league leaders Newcastle before crashing to defeat at struggling Peterborough.

And Murphy says they are relishing the trip to Eastlands, seeing it as a bit of a break.

He added: "It's going to be a tough one but we're all looking forward to it. It'll be nice to take our minds off the league for a bit. We've had three tough games and so this is a reward for that.

"We did well in the previous round so this tie is a great reward for us. It's a good draw because you always want to play against the big boys and you can't get much bigger than Manchester City away.

"As I said it'll be tough but we're all going to enjoy it and hopefully we'll give a good showing of ourselves."

Murphy and his team-mates are fully aware the league is their bread and butter.

And the 28-year-old insists Saturday's loss at Peterborough had little to do with the players having half on eye on tomorrow's game.

"I wouldn't say so," said Murphy. "I think it was down more to the two previous games. We had Sheffield United and Newcastle and we put so much effort into that and energy but I think it was just one game too much for us.

"But we weren't thinking about the cup. We really want to stay in this division and the Man City game is just a bonus for us.

"It's a great occasion and all that but the league is definitely what matters."