John Rankin has a hunger for Hamilton Accies to knock Premiership side St Johnstone out of the Scottish Cup, and set a few things right this weekend.
Accies head to McDiarmid Park in Perth on Saturday on the back of three straight defeats, while Saints have hit a bit of form with three wins on the bounce against St Mirren and Motherwell, twice.
Rankin says it’s a free hit against top-flight opposition, and a chance to atone for some poor recent displays.
He said: “The pressure is on them. We’re playing away to a Premiership team, nobody’s expecting us to win, but we have standards in the dressing room and a hunger to go to McDiarmid Park and give a good account of ourselves.
“It’s a free hit at a Premiership team, we’re looking forward to the game at a nice stadium, with a good pitch and a good atmosphere.
“We go up to Perth on Saturday, having not played against them for the last couple of years, so we’re looking forward to it.
“We’re looking to go up there and see what we can get out of the game, show the standard that we’ve set in previous weeks and months. In the last wee bit we’ve let ourselves down and we need to get back to those standards.
“There’s no better way to prove yourself than against a Premiership team, and prove what we can do. We’re going there knowing the pressure is on them, and we’ve been on the opposite side of that in previous rounds.
“We played against Musselburgh, went to Banks O’Dee, and those were really difficult games – we need to be at it on Saturday, but we’re now the underdog. We can go there and be free.”
Rankin missed a few targets during the January window closure, but says some deals are still on the go.
He said: “We tried to get targets in, and like any window, some come and some go. Some we tried really hard on, to try and get in and over the line, and it didn’t work.
“But the window is still open for free transfers and loans, and we’ve not finished yet, we’re still looking to strengthen if we can.
“That might see some going out on loan, or moving on, and we’ll see what transpires. We’ve brought in Ricki Lamie, Tony Gallacher and Scott Robinson, and Dare Olufunwa and Scott Martin have moved on.
“We still have a wee bit to do, but we’ve brought in some quality.”
Steven Bradley was injured in the 2-0 defeat against Ayr United, but has trained and could make Saturday’s game. New signing Scott Robinson is cup-tied having played for Partick Thistle.
Meanwhile, midfielder Kyle MacDonald signed a contract extension until the end of the 2026/27 season, and Rankin hopes others will follow.