St Johnstone are enjoying life as a top-six Premiership team again.
But Callum Davidson knows that the priority is still giving themselves as much “breathing space” as they can above the relegation zone.
And, with that in mind, victory against Dundee United on Monday would open up a double figures gap on their Tayside rivals.
“Dundee United brought in real quality last summer and probably shouldn’t be where they are in the league,” said Davidson.
“But that just shows you how competitive it is. Everyone below the top two is beating everyone right now.
“Liam Fox has taken over and had a good reaction. They got a great result against Ross County so will come here with plenty of confidence.
“But we are focused on what we need to do. We need to start the game better than we did against Hearts, that’s for sure.
“We need to pick up a few more wins to get away from the bottom end of the table and create that breathing space.
“As much as it’s nice to be in the top six, we want to be away from the bottom first and foremost then you can think about other things.”
‘Goal threat again’
Saints lost to third-placed Hearts last time out but it was a performance with merit.
“The positive thing for me is we look a goal threat again and are scoring goals,” said Davidson, whose team have scored in every game since the World Cup break and now matched last season’s total of 24 for the whole of that campaign.
“Against Hearts we created a lot of chances.
“We have shipped too many for my liking in the last couple of games so we need to tighten things up at the back.
“If we can do that and keep the same goal threat then we will hopefully be back to winning games quickly.”
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