Callum Davidson insists there will be no easing up for St Johnstone as they begin their Premiership post-split fixtures with a home game against Aberdeen on Saturday.
Saints won the Betfred Cup for the first time in their history with a 1-0 win over Livingston in the final at Hampden Park in February and made the top-half of the league table in the final pre-split game with a late 1-0 win against Ross County.
They are four points behind fifth-placed Livingston but asked if the pressure was now off for the last five games, the McDiarmid Park boss said: “Not as far as I’m concerned.
“You are probably talking about a certain type of pressure, we are not fighting relegation but we are looking up the way which is what we want to do this season.
“But now there is pressure on to win games and perform well.
“We want to finish as high as we can. It is going to be tough.
“There is still fifth place to fight for so we will be doing that starting on Saturday.”
After beating Tayside rivals Dundee in the Scottish Cup on Saturday, Saints found the Old Firm standing in the way of a potential cup double but Davidson is not looking past the challenge of Clyde in the last-16.
In a double draw on Sunday, it was decreed that the winners of that match will travel to newly-crowned Premiership winners Rangers or Scottish Cup holders Celtic, the only two sides to beat St Johnstone this year.
Davidson said: “This is the problem when you put the two draws together, people start talking about the next round.
“I think it would be disrespectful of me to start talking about Rangers or Celtic when we have got Clyde to play which is going to be a tough game.
“I quite like the process of winning a cup tie and then finding out who you play next. It adds a bit of excitement.
“I understand the question but it would be unfair of me to start talking about that. It is going to be a real tough game against Clyde.”
