“Colin did OK considering it’s his first game for something like four or five months,” said Jocky.

“This deal will help both parties as, hopefully, it will give Colin the games to get his fitness level ready for first-team football here and it also allows Arbroath to have an experienced player.”

Also featuring for the Red Lichties was another on-loan Dark Blue Craig Forsyth. The young defender will remain at Gayfield until the end of the season.

“It’s better for Craig that he plays week in, week out than just sitting on the bench here.”

Meanwhile, following their Scottish Cup exploits at the weekend, Colin McMenamin has picked up a back strain which has forced him to miss training.

However, while David Cowan had stitches inserted into a head gash, the rest of the squad appear to have come through unscathed, although, given their hard shift at Celtic Park, Jocky has seen signs of a little fatigue, which, he feels, is understandable.

“The guys said they felt alright yesterday in training, but, looking at them, I feel they were a little jaded,” said Jocky.

“That’s only to be expected. They were playing against a team from a higher league and the tempo was quicker. Celtic passed the ball very well and our lads had a lot of chasing about to do.

“So we’ll be keeping an eye on them all week and we’ll relate training to making sure they are OK for Saturday.”

There could be moves later this week for striker Bob Davidson and midfielder Eddie Mearns. Jocky has already stated the pair are free to leave if they can get another club.

“Bob is trying to get fixed up, while Eddie was away yesterday to let another club have a look at him, so we’ll wait and see what happens,” said the manager.

However, manager Craig Levein hasn’t given up hope of Robertson being involved against Motherwell at Tannadice on Sunday.

“Scott’s still getting a bit of bother from his niggling injury. But I’d like to think he’ll be able to train by Friday and, if that’s the case, he’ll have a chance of playing on Sunday.”

United chairman Stephen Thompson and manager Craig Levein will attend a question-and-answer session for ArabTRUST members on Thursday in the George Fox Lounges at Tannadice (7 pm).

Craig has a hamstring injury and Milne a thigh knock.

Martin Hardie and Peter MacDonald look certain to be missing due to injury, but Kevin Moon, Collin Samuel and Derek Holmes have recovered from knocks.

And, with Hibs being out of the cup, Saints can field Paul Hanlon, on loan from the Easter Road outfit.

The last two cup-ties between the Perth outfit and Rangers have been close affairs.

Last season’s Scottish Cup semi saw Saints lose out on penalties after the sides were tied 1-1 after extra-time.

The previous season saw the McDiarmid Park men help expedite Paul Le Guen’s departure from the Ibrox managerial post after a 2-0 win at Ibrox in the CIS Cup.

However, all this has served as a warning to Rangers that St Johnstone will be difficult opponents at the start of an important fortnight for the Perth club.

Five points ahead at the top of the First Division, Saints face two of their promotion challengers in the next two weeks.

Partick at Firhill are first up on Saturday, followed by Dunfermline at McDiarmid Park the following Saturday.

The First Division title and a return to the SPL is Saints’ priority, but, right now, their focus is on facing Rangers tonight.

Boss Derek McInnes insists his men won’t be on a revenge mission tonight following last season’s semi-final exit.

“If the players want to use it as extra motivation, that’s fine,” said Derek. “But when the game kicks off, I don’t think there will be many thoughts about what happened before. There will be some different players involved on both sides, anyway.

“It’s not a question of revenge. It’s just about trying to do well as a team and hoping we can cause Rangers problems — as we did in that semi-final.”

Former Ibrox star McInnes believes his current team is even stronger than the one which ran Rangers close last term, but accepts Saints will still be widely regarded as underdogs.

“We are 14 games undefeated and I feel we are better equipped as a team than we were that day,” he said.

“Everyone who played in that game did exceptionally well and we ran Rangers very close. But Rangers went on to win the tournament, and that shows you their strength and doggedness. We are well aware of that and we know we have to play well.”

So far, Saints have sold 3500 of their ticket allocation.