Chris Lakey If anyone needed proof that the Johnstone's Paint Trophy was worth winning then Chris Martin's the man to ask. The City striker scored in last season's final to help Luton beat Scunthorpe at Wembley in a match which featured fellow Canaries loanee Michael Spillane.

Chris Lakey

If anyone needed proof that the Johnstone's Paint Trophy was worth winning then Chris Martin's the man to ask.

The City striker scored in last season's final to help Luton beat Scunthorpe at Wembley in a match which featured fellow Canaries loanee Michael Spillane.

According to Spillane, the memory of the goal is revived on a daily basis by the striker - it may be said in jest, but it's something Martin will never forget.

“I think he's just trying to wind me up to be fair,” he said. “But it was a great day and I like to keep reminding myself about it.

“It's one of the smaller competitions I suppose in the country, but it shouldn't be underestimated I think, especially if you win it. It's a great competition to win.

“It's not every season that you go to Wembley. If you ask a lot of players I'm sure going to Wembley is an ambition that a lot of them will have.

“We're in League One, we're in this competition. That shows we should be here and we need to go out and prove to people we are one of the better teams in it.”

Martin also scored in Luton's opening game of the campaign, at home to Brentford - coincidentally the visitors to Carrow Road tonight - and after just four more games, including a two-legged semi-final, he was running out at Wembley.

“I think there's about three games and as soon as you win three games, it's basically the area final,” he said. “That's what it was for us at Luton because we got a bye in the first round, so there's not too many games that you have to win to start feeling a bit of momentum and really wanting to get to Wembley.”

The Brentford game was decided on penalties, as was the semi-final against Brighton - with Martin scoring in the shoot-out - although competition rules do not allow for extra-time.

“I think that sometimes you don't really want extra-time, you want to get a result straight over and done with because it does drag on with extra-time,” said Martin, who says he will be putting his hand up for a spot-kick if necessary.

“If I was playing, definitely.”

Brentford beat City 2-1 a fortnight ago and are becoming a familiar foe for Martin.

“It's definitely going to be a tough game,” he said. “We played them last year and I've played them probably four or five times now, and they're a hard team to play against.

“They did really well getting promoted last season and they made it very difficult for us when we went down there a couple of weeks ago, and I'm sure it's going to be just as tough at Carrow Road.”

Martin has yet to feature in either of Paul Lambert's two League One games in charge, although he had half an hour of the Carling Cup defeat by Sunderland last week.

“Depending on what team is picked and what squad is picked it's a chance for people to go out and perhaps, if they haven't played and they're going to play tonight, to prove a point,” he said.