McPake also chose to keep his counsel regarding the Scottish Football Association’s notice of complaint handed to Leigh Griffiths on Wednesday for three alleged rule breaches relating to last week’s incident in which the striker kicked a smoke bomb in the direction of a stand housing St Johnstone supporters.

He said: “It’s an ongoing investigation. There isn’t much I can say.”

A hearing has been set for October 14. Griffiths was also charged by Police Scotland over the incident last week.

As things stand, he will be available for this weekend’s rematch with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park if he can shake off the ankle problem that forced him off in the first half against Rangers last weekend.

Asked if the uncertainty surrounding Griffiths’ longer-term availability was a distraction, McPake said: “It’s the process. We’ve been here before. I’ve been in the game a long time. That’s the way football works. Leigh can play through it. We’ll use him until we know if there is a ban.

“He’s struggling with his ankle and we’ll assess it as the week goes on. He’s played in big games and he’s been in situations before so I don’t think this is anything new to Leigh. It’s just something we need to deal with as a football club.

“He’s come out and apologised and from the conversations I’ve had with him, he’s OK. He’s just desperate to get that ankle better.”

McPake acknowledges that dealing with issues such as those involving Jakubiak and Griffiths are simply part of a football manager’s remit.

He said: “It’s part of the job, I know that. Certain things have popped up at different times over my two and a bit years in charge.

“We’ve all been in a global pandemic so there have been challenging times – not that I’m comparing the recent incidents to the pandemic because that’s not right – but you’re always going to face challenges as a manager and this is just another one that we need to deal with.”