THE ST JOHNSTONE players have got one-track minds this season, with promotion to the Premier League their primary focus.

Having developed a taste for cup success over the last two years, however, they don’t have a problem with being greedy.

The Perth men face Stenhousemuir in the first round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup at Ochilview this evening and striker Peter MacDonald, who if selected will make his 200th appearance for the McDiarmid Park club, asked, “Why not go for everything?

“The cup runs we have had (to three national semi-finals in the last two seasons, as well as a Challenge Cup win) have been brilliant.

“We would swap them all to win the league, though. But, we will try to get both this season.”

MacDonald admitted he doesn’t know too much about tonight’s third division opponents but insisted they will “be given every respect.”

He added, “The boys who played on Saturday did well to get a win in our first league game of the season and the manager has said he will be putting out a strong team for tomorrow’s match.

“It was a great result against Livingston and I was happy to get on the scoresheet, but as long as we keep grinding out results I don’t care who scores.”

Confirming his selection policy for tonight’s match on Stenhousemuir’s synthetic surface, McInnes explained, “Everybody who is fit will be involved. We’ll be playing our strongest team

“When we played Montrose in pre-season we left a few players out because of the artificial pitch but that won’t be the case this time because this match is too important to rest players.

“The cup competitions have generated a lot of money for the club recently and a lot of enjoyment for the players and supporters.

“There’s no question that we want to progress to the latter rounds in the cups. They’ve been good to us and we want that to continue.”

Liam Craig’s red card on Saturday won’t keep him out tonight, but he will be suspended for this weekend’s trip to Greenock.

Steven Milne will be available but a hamstring injury is set to keep Collin Samuel out. McInnes reported that Alan Main may be considered and Jody Morris has an “outside chance” of being fit for Saturday, but not before.

Stenhousemuir opened their season with a win, and McInnes pointed out, “I’ve had them watched a couple of times and both reports I got back said they were very lively in possession and created a lot of chances.

“They’ve got some players we know and others we’re not as familiar with, but we know their strengths and weaknesses.

“With the astro-turf it all adds up to a difficult tie but if we play to our capabilities that will be enough to win.”

Reflecting on Saturday’s 2-0 league opener against Livingston, McInnes commented, “We’ve been looking for that sort of defensive performance all pre-season.

“The two Kevins (James and Rutkiewicz) had a big influence on the game. Their organisation and experience is invaluable.

“Every manager will tell you how important it is to get three points on the board early because some teams can go a few weeks without a win. We’ve got a platform now to build on.”

Warriors boss John Coughlin has warned his side this represents a step up following the weekend win over Elgin City.

“We watched St Johnstone on Saturday and they passed the ball really well so this will be a really difficult test for us,’’ he said. “We have to make it a cup-tie, get our sleeves rolled up and see where it takes us.’’

Stenhousemuir have announced that the game will be pay at the gate.