The Sky Blues host North End for a place in the two-legged northern section final at Wembley, where either Crewe or Bradford await the winners.
Should they navigate those tests then the west Midlands club would be walking out at the national stadium for the first time since their memorable FA Cup success of 1987.
But Robins wants his players to look only as far as the Lilywhites in Thursday night's televised clash and not get distracted by the possibility of playing at the famous stadium.
"This competition represents an opportunity to go to Wembley, and that's not too far away so everybody starts to focus on that," he said.
"We can't focus on that, we can't focus on that at all. We can only focus on the opposition on Thursday.
"Preston came to the Ricoh a couple of weeks ago and put in a really good performance in the second half and made life difficult for us. We expect the same, we know what to expect from them, we've seen them and they've seen us. I think it will be a good game."
Preston are arguably one of the more physical sides in League One, with the two teams sharing a 1-1 draw in the league just before Christmas.
Robins added: "Preston do what they do and they do it well. If they're on their mettle they're a match for anybody. We've got to match that threat and earn the right to play. We're focused on it and we want to win it.
"We're really looking forward to the game, the supporters are going to certainly be in good voice, they're probably going to be there in good number. It's exciting. It gets to the excitement stage now, if we win this one we get a two-legged final and then we can start looking towards a great day out.
"But first and foremost we have to totally focus on this one at the Ricoh."
