United defender Darren O'Dea firmly believes the Carling Cup offers Championship clubs a realistic chance of Wembley of glory.

The Republic of Ireland international was part of the Ipswich side which reached the semi-finals last season before finally bowing out to the might of Arsenal.

O'Dea made his home debut for United in the same competition this season, when Bradford were beaten 3-2 at Elland Road, and the on-loan defender is looking forward to Tuesday's second round trip to Doncaster on Tuesday.

"We want to do well in the Carling Cup," said Darren. "The fans will expect us to win and we want to win and want to get through.

"A club like Leeds wants to do well in every competition and the Carling Cup is a good opportunity.

"I played with Ipswich last season and got to the semi-final and with all due respect we did great, but played a lot of lower league opposition to get there.

"It's a chance to win a cup, not many players win a cup in their career, and there is a good chance for a Championship club to win this one.

"There's not much time to recover for us after Sunday, and it'll be another tough one, but we'll go there with plenty of confidence after the performance at West Ham."

Having followed up the 4-1 midweek win against Hull with a terrific performance at Upton Park last weekend, confidence is brimming in the United camp.

"I thought we played some really good stuff on Sunday," said Darren.

"We were disappointed we didn't win, but we'll take positives from the performance. It's a difficult place to go, they are favourites, and to play the way we did and get a point we were pleased.

"It was a good test against players who have played at the top level. They were physical and strong, but we did well and coped very well.

"We didn't go there thinking we didn't have a chance. With the quality we have we will score goals. We've been unfortunate with the goals we have conceded and I think everything is boding well for the season."