Dundee United manager Robbie Neilson has placed the Alloa match on an equal footing with his team’s top-of-the-table clashes.
The Tangerines have already won the first of this month’s crunch games against promotion rivals Ross County and face a Friday night fixture against Championship leaders Ayr United at home on the 30th.
Sandwiched in between those massive matches is this Tuesday’s visit of the part-time Wasps to Tannadice.
That certainly looks the easier one of the three on paper but Neilson is determined to treat eighth-placed Alloa exactly the same as he did County on Saturday or will treat the Honest Men.
Neilson said: “The Ross County game kind of takes care of itself because you’ve got the build up to it and people are talking about it.
“Coming into this game, I have found when speaking to some people they are talking about Ayr already.
“We have an important game before that, though, and you have to focus solely on Alloa.
“The Ayr match, again, will take care of itself.
“The Alloa one is equally important as the others because at the end of the season we will look at our points total.
“When you do that it doesn’t matter if you beat Ross County or you beat Alloa, it gets you three points just the same.
“Also, the nature of management means you need to focus on one game at a time and not get carried away with yourself.
“You don’t look down the line and say we are going to do this and we’re going to do that.
“The players have taken that message on board but we need to reiterate it.
“This game on Tuesday is the biggest game for us as things currently stand.”
Something that should also make the Tangerines cautious about counting the points before Jim Goodwin’s men come calling is their recent record against Alloa, albeit one that was “achieved” under previous boss Csaba Laszlo.
The last three meetings between the clubs has seen the Wasps beat a fringe United side on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Irn-Bru Cup on September 8; the teams play out a 1-1 draw in the league the previous week; and the Tangerines lose on penalties at home in the Betfred Cup group stages back in July after the game finished 1-1.
Neilson added: “I would expect them to come to Tannadice, look at it and say: ‘If we finish with that it’s been a good result.’
“If they can get a win they will be delighted.
“The last three times we have played them we have not beaten them and that says a lot for them.
“They are a good team and Jim Goodwin has done exceptionally well there.
“I think in the summer St Mirren were interested in taking him. They decided not to go ahead with it, but his stock is very high.
“His players obviously believe in him a lot which is always dangerous for opposition teams.”
