Manager Stephen Robinson admits tomorrow's Scottish Gas Scottish Cup tie will require St Mirren to be at their best if they are to progress.
The Buddies travel to Dumfries to face League One side Queen of the South in the Fourth Round and will be backed by more than 1200 Saints supporters.
The gaffer knows his side will be favourites, but nothing will be taken for granted as Saints look to secure their passage into the Fifth Round.
"Every time you go into these competitions it’s an opportunity to progress," he said, speaking to the press on Friday morning.
We’ve got a draw that we believe is a hard draw away from home, but one that we should be good enough to win, if we perform. And we will need to perform to our top levels to do that.
"If we do then we’ll progress in the cup, which is a real exciting prospect.
"I’ve experienced it before in reaching two cup finals with Motherwell. It raises the profile of the club and it raises the profile of individual players. For everybody there’s certainly a real goal for making sure we progress to the next round.
"The pressure is on the bigger sides. Everybody expects you to win the game. It's never as easy as that. It’s about going with the right mentality and not taking anything for granted and doing the things we should do better than the opposition.
"We have to continue to believe in the ability we have in the squad, but the mentality is the key."
Transfer Window Update
The manager told the media last week that he hoped to have a new signing in the building this week. However, while that has yet to come to fruition, the manager remains hopeful of getting some business completed over the next few weeks.
We’re actually waiting on three deals, all loan deals," he added.
"You’re always at the mercy of the parent club at bigger levels. We’re doing the same, holding some players back to make sure we get what we need. Everybody is doing that at this moment in time.
We know what we need to get in and we know where we want to improve. We believe if we are able to get even two out of the three loan deals through then it would improve us."
Conor McMenamin Update
Robinson also gave an injury update on Conor McMenamin who has been sidelined since December with a calf injury.
"Conor McMenamin is still not available. He's has had a setback in training again.
"The initial scans didn't show a major issue so we're going to get it re-scanned. It's a strange area down near his calf and achilles. Not many people get injuries in that area so it's not something we're well-versed on. We'll get another opinion and see if we can get to the bottom of it."
