For all St Johnstone’s cup progress this term, boss Tommy Wright insists the club’s attention must now turn to securing a top six finish and Wednesday’s game with Dundee United at Tannadice.
Saints earned a spot in their second semi-final of the season thanks to a 3-1 win over Raith Rovers at the weekend, with the last- four draw pairing them once more with Derek McInnes’s Aberdeen.
But while a semi-final at Ibrox is a date all Saints fans can now look forward to, Wright knows only too well that league business is the Perth club’s bread and butter.
“The cup semi-final isn’t our priority right now,” he stressed.
“It has to go on the back burner but it is nice to know we have a second cup semi-final this season to look forward to. Obviously the fans will be excited by the prospect.
“After beating Raith I said we could beat anyone if we played to our best on the day and I meant it.
“We contributed to our own downfall in the League Cup defeat from Aberdeen, although now we will have a chance to reach the club’s first ever Scottish Cup final and that will be a huge incentive.
“But right now the focus of the players must be on cementing our place in the top six. Hopefully our performances merit that status again.”
The Perth club are understood to have earned around £80,000 from their televised cup tie at the weekend, and will now be eyeing an even more significant windfall from the semi-final.
The SFA confirmed that the semi will be held at 12.45pm on Sunday, April 13, and will be screened live by both BBC Scotland and Sky Sports.
Nonetheless, club officials are hopeful they will secure around 8,000 tickets for the match against Aberdeen in Glasgow next month.
With a place in the Scottish Cup last four secure, Saints’ spotlight therefore now shifts to the re-arranged Tayside derby with Dundee United.
And Wright is fully expecting a difficult game particularly given United’s 5-0 thrashing of Inverness at the weekend.
He continued: “United had a very impressive cup win at Inverness and they seem to be finding their form again.
“Previous derbies have been entertaining – they won 4-0 at Tannadice and we won 3-0 in Perth – but this is our game in hand on top six rivals Hibs and we want to make the most of it. With our two point advantage we have to at least match the number of points Hibs gain before the split.
“I had targeted 44 points but you might secure a top six place with less. So if we win at Tannadice it would be a big result for us, stretching our advantage on Hibs to five points.
“We are going to Tannadice on the back of a good win over Motherwell and good performances aganst Aberdeen and Raith. They may be buoyant after the weekend cup win but so are we.
“We have no reason to feel inferior in any way.”
Saints will be without the suspended Steven MacLean, although Wright reiterated his belief that he should have more than enough options at his disposal.
“Steven MacLean is suspended but we have a programme in place to manage his comeback and three games in a week didn’t feature on it,” he concluded.
“So he would probably have missed this one anyway. We have various options and with the exception of Murray Davidson we are well placed for attacking players.”