John Rankin knows that Airdrie will be smelling a Scottish Cup giant-killing against crisis club Dundee United on Saturday.
The Tangerines head to Lanarkshire to take on the League One play-off hopefuls in the fourth round of the cup in the wake of last weekend’s derby disappointment, which saw them throw away an early lead to lose 2-1 to rivals Dundee at Dens Park.
Rankin admits Eddie Wolecki’s Diamonds will fancy their chances of causing an upset at the Excelsior Stadium.
And while Rankin concedes getting away from the strain of their relegation battle might be a positive, the midfielder knows they can treat Airdrie lightly.
Rankin said: “We’ve got a difficult cup tie away to Airdrie coming up.
“Yes, the heads are down but there’s no point dwelling on it.
“We need to get back into it and think about what’s going to happen on Saturday.
“It’s going to be hard away to Airdrie.
“They will be right up for it.
“They will be looking to take our scalp so we will go there with a bit of pride and passion and try to get ourselves in the next round of the cup. Then we can get back to league form.
“You never know, a wee break from the league might actually give us a boost.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“It’s a different focus for sure, and a chance to get ourselves into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
“For a week, there’s maybe a wee bit less pressure but there’s always pressure at a club like ours.
“The pressure this time is to progress in the cup so we need to dust ourselves down and go to Airdrie and go at it again.”