ROSS County boss Derek Adams insists they have a real chance of knocking SPL opponents St Mirren out of the William Hill Scottish Cup - even though Division One glory tops the agenda in Dingwall.
Just ahead of Saturday's encounter between the SPL's ninth-placed team and the Irn Bru Division One leaders in Paisley, Adams has made no secret of league points meaning more than any cup adventures.
The Victoria Parkers were 2010 runners-up after sending Celtic and Hibs spinning out of the competition before falling short in the final against Dundee United.
Their amazing history run also gave them a mountain of league games to catch up on and their title ambitions faded as they fell to fifth place and no-one could halt a rampant Caley Thistle team marching into the SPL.
Despite concerns over a build-up of games if they progress, Adams stressed: "We want to go to Paisley and win this match. It's important that we do that and try to progress. Our priority is the league, but this is a good match for us. I will put out the team that I think can win the match and we'll try to do so in the 90 minutes.
"I went to New St Mirren Park with Hibs and won and the last game Ross County played against St Mirren we won, so hopefully those are good omens for us."
St Mirren have gained a lot of credit for the manner in which they have played football this season, but Adams insists their recent results show more than a small chance for his table toppers.
He said: "People have been talking about them this season, but we know they have only won one match in their last 10 SPL games. We know all about them, we've watched the DVDs and had them watched in person and they won't surprise us.
"While Steven Thompson up front gives them vast experience, I personally think the one to watch is Paul McGowan. I watched him in the game against Hamilton in the previous round and he was the best player on the park, so we'll need to watch him."
Colin McMenamin, a summer capture last year from Division One rivals Queen of the South, netted his ninth and 10th goals of the season in County's 3-0 win against Livingston last weekend.
Adams was delighted to see his main marksman lead the line in such style.
He said: "It was great for Colin to score another two goals. He's done ever so well for us of late and hopefully he can keep that going. He's the second top scorer in the league (behind Falkirk's Farid El Alagui).
"He was brought here to score goals and he's certainly done that. The other players have also done well and helped Colin add to his tally.
"We did well in the second half after Livingston did particularly well in the first half because they are a good side. To win 3-0 at home and keep a clean sheet against a team we had not beaten in 10 attempts at Dingwall was very good. Over the years, Ross County have struggled against Livingston, but to win so convincingly was impressive.
"It was an important game for us. We didn't play the week before because of the postponement (against Morton).
"I'm sure the other teams around us were looking to see if we were going to drop points, but we didn't, doing so by keeping our 10th clean sheet of the season."
Marc Fitzpatrick and Paul Lawson return to the County squad this weekend, but although Johnny Flynn has returned to training, the St Mirren game should come too soon for him.
