Gary Miller is confident St Johnstone can bounce back when they meet Kilmarnock in the League Cup third round at Rugby Park.
Saints have slumped to successive Premiership defeats to first Dundee and then Inverness Caley Thistle to take some shine off the start they had made to the season.
However, as Miller correctly pointed out, they are still better off than they were at this point last year.
Also, the Scottish Cup holders love knockout competition and are relishing facing Killie.
“We want to get back to winning matches and pick ourselves up after the last two defeats,” said Miller.
“We have started the season reasonably well because we have nine points so far.
“The gaffer pointed out that this is a good because we have more points now than we usually have at this stage of the season.
“We have won a few games early on and, although the last two results have been disappointing, we know we can get back to winning ways. I guess there is probably more expectation on us this season after the season we had.
“For the fans, winning the Scottish Cup last season probably increased their expectations, but as players it’s not something we think about.”
“Every-thing went back to zero and we are just focused on this new season. Nobody here is dwelling on the past. We are just getting stuck in about the games we’ve got coming up.
“But to meet that challenge we have to play better, as individuals and as a team. You are always going to have a few bad games or bad results in your season.
“Hopefully that’s ours out of the road now and we can kick on again. It’s good to have a midweek game because it’s a chance to rectify things.”
While Saints fans may have had their expectation level raised because of that Celtic Park success over Dundee United on May 17, the same can’t be said of those who follow Killie.
Their team was widely expected to be relegation strugglers this term but currently sit in fifth spot in the league, two points better off than the eighth-placed Perth club.
“Kilmarnock have started the season well,” acknowledged Miller.
“They have picked up a few wins and it seems a lot more positive there compared to previous seasons. It will be a tough game but we think we are able to go there and take a positive result.
“They have their new surface so we will need to adapt to that but we are looking forward to it.”