St Johnstone’s Steven Anderson admits his side have a point or two to prove on Friday night against Aberdeen at McDiarmid.
Saints travelled north to face Inverness on Tuesday in buoyant frame of mind following last weekend’s victory over Partick Thistle at home.
However, they came unstuck in the Highlands, producing a lacklustre performance against a slick Caley outfit who strolled to a 2-0 victory.
Anderson, who is in his testimonial year with the club, is determined that Saints will make amends against the Dons, especially as they are still hurting after the New Year’s Day defeat at the hands of the same opponents at Pittodrie.
He said: “I don’t know what went wrong against Inverness. It was just one of those nights and was so disappointing as we wanted to build on the Partick result.
“We will just have to get the heads down, prepare for the Aberdeen game and hopefully get a win.
“It will be a hard game like every match but obviously we are determined to get a result.
“We want to prove a point to them as they beat us the last time and we also want to prove a point after the Inverness game.
“I think every team can be got at and hopefully we can raise our game against Aberdeen on Friday.”
Anderson though acknowledges that St Johnstone will have to tighten up at the back if they hope to succeed against the Dons.
He said: “Obviously, we had a good result at the weekend but look, we need to keep clean sheets.
“As a back four that’s what you want to do and then look to score at the other end creating more chances like we have done.”
The defeat against Inverness also came at a cost in terms of injuries to Michael O’Halloran, Frazer Wright and Dave Mackay with question marks over their participation in Friday night’s game.
Anderson though insists Saints can cope.
He added: “That’s what a squad’s for. I think we have good enough players to step in.”
Meanwhile, St Johnstone have agreed a contract extension with midfielder David Wotherspoon that ties him to the club until the summer of 2017.
The Perth-born 25-year-old joined Saints in July, 2013 from Hibs.
Manager Tommy Wright said: “I’m pleased that David’s signed on for another two years.”
Another player who has recently signed a deal with St Johnstone, former Spartans striker George Hunter, got off the mark for his new side in the Forfarshire Cup semi-final tie against Forfar at Station Park on Tuesday night.
Unfortunately for the 18-year-old, his goal wasn’t enough to make it a winning debut with the Loons going through to the final thanks to counters from Danny Denholm and Stephen Husband.