More important to him is, that for only the second time in over a month, his men will go into a game having had a whole week to prepare.

“For me, the bottom line is concentrating on my team and what they do, so the big bonus is not having a midweek game this week, rather than knowing St Johnstone have had one,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of games recently and Saturday sees us start a run of three in eight days, so it was important the players got the chance to recover their legs.

“The boys have been able to do that and the ones who played at Kilmarnock last Saturday carrying knocks are going to be OK.”

Key central-defender Andy Webster, out of the last two games with a calf strain, is also making good progress and there is cautious optimism he will be back.

“I’m not counting my chickens, but he is working towards Saturday and, so far, things seem to be going well so, touch wood, he will be OK to play.”

Peter did take the opportunity to head for Hampden to see Saints in action for himself and, despite their defeat, saw enough to confirm nothing will come easy for United.

“St Johnstone started well and took the game to Rangers and, while I wouldn’t go as far as saying Rangers’ first goal was against the run of play, it was a bit of a surprise,” he said.

“As the game went on, Del (Derek McInnes) maybe did not get the quality of final ball he would have wanted, but they put in a decent performance.

“It was yet another semi-final for them and bad teams don’t keep reaching semi-finals, so we know how hard it will be on Saturday.”

However, it’s clear new arrivals Andrew Shinnie, from Rangers, and Celtic’s Ben Hutchinson are in his thoughts.

With the Hoops overloaded with strikers following the arrivals of Robbie Keane, Morten Rasmussen and Diomansy Kamara an add to Marc-Antoine Fortune and Giorgios Samaras, getting the green light to use Hutchinson should not be a problem.

And Jocky also expects the Gers to be happy to allow midfielder Shinnie, who they want getting as many games as possible while he’s at Dens, to give the OK as well.

“Their loan agreements allow them to play in all our games, so I don’t see there being a problem, but it is something I will check.”

As he tries to bed in two new players — Shinnie was on loan last season, but there have been massive changes to the squad since then — Jocky has been a little concerned about the lack of suitable grass pitches this week.

“Earlier in the week, the frost was a problem and now we have the snow back, so it has not been the best for getting the boys out on grass and I really am not a fan of astroturf.”

Despite the training problems, the manager remains hopeful injury victims Richie Hart and Eddie Malone will be fit.

“It’s also a chance to do ourselves justice and put the Rangers loss behind us.”

Saints and United are getting used to playing each other this season.

The Tangerines won the league encounter 3-2 at McDiarmid Park earlier this season, then Saints triumphed at McDiarmid 2-1 in the Co-op Cup before the sides drew 3-3 in the league at Tannadice last midweek.

Saturday’s game also has a tight look about it and, regardless of how close the score might be, Danny just wants to ensure Saints come out on top.

The match continues a busy spell for the Perth men, who face St Mirren away next midweek in the SPL followed by an away SPL visit to Kilmarnock a week on Saturday.

February 17 sees them at home to Hibs in the league, then, on the 20th, Rangers visit on league business.

Kenny Deuchar missed last night’s Hampden defeat due to a back injury and Saints hope he’ll recover in time for the United game.

Collin Samuel is making good progress from his knee surgery, but Saturday’s tie could come too early for the ex-United forward.