"WHAT are the chances of that?", was how Jake Caprice reacted to his current club being drawn against his old club in the FA Cup. And he was not alone.

"There are so many Tranmere connections. It's crazy," said the defender, who made over 80 appearances for Rovers between 2018-2020 with the highlight coming in the 2019 League Two playoff final at Wembley Stadium when he supplied the cross for Connor Jennings' 119th minute winner earning Tranmere promotion to League One.

But despite his gloried history at Penton Park, Caprice is keen to put the quirks of the first round draw to one side and focus on how promotion hungry Latics measure up to a team from the league above.

"It will be a good test," said the right back, who helped Latics to a sixth win in eight league games before the break for first round weekend.

"This year has been really good, the team's gelled really well. A lot of the new players like myself have fitted in seamlessly as well.

"We're on a good run at the minute and have only lost two games this season, which is good going. Its unfortunate that everyone else seems to be winning in and around us but all you can do is keep winning and the rest will take care of itself.

"You can only control the controllables, there's no point worrying about 'if they drop points here' just go and win your own games. If you do that the rest will take care of itself."

And Caprice does not see the break for the cup as a distraction.

"You'd like to carry on in the league but sometimes the break can be good," he said.

"Momentum in football is everything. If you can get on a winning run it builds consistency, it builds rhythm, everyone starts feeling good about themselves and there's been a really good atmosphere in and around the training ground and that filters into matchdays."

Ahead of this weekend's tie, the former Exeter and Burton defender added: "I've been back a few times but I think the last time was during Covid so it wasn't really the same without fans.

"It will be interesting to see the kind of reception all of us get because there are so many links.

"It will be a good game and one that we're looking forward to and hopefully we're going there with the same mindset as we do in the league, we want to win."