The past couple of days have been about rest and recovery for Dundee United but the aim is for another three points at Dunfermline tonight to cut the gap at the top of the Championship to just two points.
Other than their preparation for the East End Park trip, after energy-sapping wins over Ross County and Alloa last week, work on the training pitch for the Tangerines has been kept to a minimum.
However, boss Robbie Neilson believes his men will be ready for the attempt to secure a win that would blow the race with Ross County for automatic promotion wide open.
Victory tonight would leave United two points off the top and knowing wins over Queen of the South and then County, on Friday week, could see them move ahead of the Highlanders in the second tier if they drop points.
For Robbie, though, it’s a case of first things first and that means taking care of business this evening, saying: “With the games coming like they are, it is hard, but we’ll go to Dunfermline looking to win.
“If we can it will be massive to get the gap down to two and we would like to be in a position where we go to Ross County next week with a chance to really turn the screw on them.
“We’ve got two games before that, Dunfermline and Queen of the South, and we have to take care of them.
“It won’t be easy. East End Park is always difficult and, because Dunfermline didn’t play on Saturday, they will be fresh. We need to lift ourselves going into it because it’s a huge game.”
The Pars are chasing a play-off spot, meaning there is plenty at stake for them, but Robbie points out that’s the norm in the Championship.
“This league is so tight, it’s so difficult,” he added.
“You play in some leagues and you get to this stage of the season, there’s five or six teams that are already thinking about next year.
“There’s people moving on, they’re signing contracts elsewhere – you don’t have that when there’s 10 teams in the league like this, it’s a constant battle.”
United will have striker Pavol Safranko back from international duty tonight and defender Mark Connolly is expected to be fit.
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