For Caley Thistle midfielder Danny Williams, the Scottish Cup brings a change in focus – but the same approach.
Inverness travel to Paisley today to face St Mirren in the fourth round, with the Highlanders buoyed by an excellent league campaign that sees them sit joint top of the Premiership.
Williams sees their league form as a firm reason to be optimistic and hopes that success can be transmitted to the cup.
He said: “We’re setting aside the league and focusing on the cup now.
“It’s a tie we’re eager to win and a competition we really want to progress in.
“Our form has been good in the league and we want that top-six finish. But this takes us away from the league and gives us something else to aim for and achieve.
“Nothing really changes in the preparation.
“I think the cup will suit our style of play. We like passing the ball, attacking and that’s what we’ll be out to do. We went there and won 1-0 earlier in the season but I thought it was a really tough game.
“We were down to 10 men for quite a long period in that one after Ryan Christie was sent off, so it was a good win.
“We’ll just play our normal game and, hopefully, get through.”
Williams has already touched the surface of cup-final fever, having been involved in Caley Thistle’s run to last season’s League Cup final.
Although the 26-year-old did not play in the penalty-kick defeat by Aberdeen, Williams insists the occasion has given him an impetus to reach another final with John Hughes’s side.
Williams added: “It whets the appetite for more. It was a fantastic cup run we went on last year and to go to Celtic Park in front of 50,000 supporters was remarkable.
“It’s a real incentive to do it again this time. We want to get as far as we can.
“You learn as a group from those cup experiences but, above all, getting to the final was a fantastic experience and you want to experience that high again.
“But we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. This weekend will be a very tough one to get through.”