Dundee United boss Micky Mellon does not expect St Mirren to be suffering a Hampden hangover at Tannadice on Wednesday night.

The Paisley side were beaten by Livingston in the Betfred Cup semi-final at the national stadium on Sunday.

Jim Goodwin is now preparing his Buddies squad for the Scottish Premiership match against a United side who had a free weekend.

Asked if the break could work in his team’s favour, Mellon said: “It will if we go out there and attack the game and St Mirren turn up feeling sorry for themselves, but I don’t expect that to happen.

“We have to be the best version of ourselves all the time, we really do, and that’s what we will concentrate on.

“I never lose my focus on that and I can’t start expecting people to turn up here and not be at it.

“We will expect St Mirren to be at it and we know we definitely have to be and I believe it will give us a good opportunity to get a result.”

He continued: “I am sure they will be massively disappointed but I am sure that you will hear the manager say that they have to move on.

“But that’s not my concern, I can’t control that.

“I have a group here that I have to work hard with and know how we want to play and how much we want to improve. So we will concentrate on that.

“We will try to get them to make sure they do the necessary running at the right intensity, turn up with the right attitude.

“So we have enough to think about trying to achieve before we start thinking about or worrying about anybody else.”