Dave Mackay has admitted the St Johnstone players would view failure to make the top six of the Scottish Premiership as a “big failure”.
The Perth skipper, who has signed a new one-year contract extension, is confident however that the McDiarmid Park club will succeed in their four-way battle for the last two places after the split.
Hamilton, Dundee and Kilmarnock are all still in contention, according to Mackay.
But the defender wants to make sure that an impressive run of finishing in the top half of the league for Saints is continued for another year.
“Getting to the top six for a fourth season in a row would be a great achievement,” He pointed out.
“But that’s the standards we’ve set ourselves and if we fall below that we’ll feel we have failed.
“At the start of the season we all thought there was enough in here to be top six.
“So if we don’t achieve that then it’s a big failure on our part.
“The first couple of seasons I was here was all about staying in the league but thankfully we always did okay and didn’t get into any bother.
“The last few years have been about the top six and it would be great if we could make it in there again.
“There are four teams going for it Dundee, ourselves, Kilmarnock and maybe Hamilton.
“We’re all trying to suck them back into it but they might have enough points on the board already.”