Stephen Glass believes his Aberdeen side can enjoy a well-earned breather before facing Hibernian following their McDiarmid Park win on Saturday.
Substitute Teddy Jenks fired in a controversial winner after 83 goalless minutes against St Johnstone to give sixth-placed Dons their third cinch Premiership win in a row and take them within one point of Dundee United and Motherwell.
With Hibs taking on Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden Park next Sunday, Aberdeen have to wait until the following Wednesday for their trip to Easter Road in the league.
Glass believes the hard-fought victory against Saints – there was a suggestion of handball against Jenks before he fired low past keeper Zander Clark from the edge of the box – leaves them in fine fettle.
He told Aberdeen’s official Twitter account: “It would be a long time to wait if you didn’t do what you should have done on Saturday.
“Instead of that the boys can feel good about themselves in the training week and the prep time for the Hibs game as well.
“It is a massive game for us. Two away games for us, we have taken care of the first game already and now we start planning for Hibs
“The boys are feeling a lot happier about themselves.
“I thought we were pretty good in the first half, it really became a game in the second half, they had a few opportunities, not real big opportunities.
“The game was calling out for a moment of quality and Teddy produced it and you get the winner. A wee bit of luck like that has been a long time coming so we will take it.”
St Johnstone slumped to the bottom of the table behind Ross County on goals scored after a result which leaves them with one win in nine matches in all competitions.
Boss Callum Davidson, however, took encouragement from the way his side played.
He said: “I think that performance shows that they are capable of beating anybody.
“I wasn’t particularly happy with the Dundee game (lost 1-0). I asked for a response from them and they gave me that.
“We need to keep that going, attitude, performance and commitment and the togetherness we have.
“If we stick together and play like that we will be fine.”
