St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson was encouraged by the noises coming from his players after their latest cup triumph as he stressed the importance of their league campaign.
Saints moved within 90 minutes of a double when they beat St Mirren in the Scottish Cup on Sunday but they have Scottish Premiership business to take care of before they return to Hampden on May 22.
The Betfred Cup winners are aiming to finish fifth before taking on Hibernian in the final, and doing so would guarantee them European football regardless of the cup result.
Only three goals separate them from Livingston in sixth spot and Saints take on Celtic on Wednesday, while their nearest rivals face Rangers before the pair meet on Saturday.
Davidson said: “We have two massive games coming up before the Scottish Cup tie so we need to make sure the players are fully focused on the job ahead.
“We are in a race for fifth place and it’s very, very close. The result is going to be very important leading into Saturday.
“As long as we give ourselves a chance on Saturday to get fifth, that’s really important.
“We had the emotional high on Sunday and sometimes it’s very difficult to come down from that so I need to make sure I pick the right team and their mental state is strong.
“When I listened to a few interviews after the game, they were saying, it’s great we are in the final, we enjoyed it, but they were all focused on the game on Wednesday night, and that shows the level of professionalism.”
