Livingston boss David Martindale insists the winners of Saturday's Scottish Premiership clash with St Johnstone would only take a slight advantage into their Betfred Cup final.
Callum Davidson's side visit the Tony Macaroni Arena on league duty where Saints will try to end the home side's remarkable 14-game unbeaten run since Martindale stepped up from assistant to take over from Gary Holt in November.
Both sides will meet again at Hampden Park on February 28 with silverware at stake.
Asked if this weekend's match could be a marker for the final, Martindale said: "I will say what Callum is going to say because we have to do the party line.
"I don't think it will have any effect on the cup final at all – let's be honest, you are going to go into the game with a slight psychological advantage if one team was to win the game on Saturday.
"But it is a very, very slight psychological advantage because I do believe the cup final is going to be a one-off game.
"Like we approached the semi-final, if we can go into this cup final keeping this amazing run going and taking points off St Johnstone, it can only bode well for us."
Martindale, whose side sit fifth in the table, insists his squad's flexibility is one of the reasons behind their current success.
He said: "We have good utility players. Wee Robbo (Scott Robinson) has been a seven, a nine, a 10, 11. Steve Lawson has been a two, six, seven, eight and 11.
"So we have a lot of players who can play a lot of different positions.
"That is down to their football knowledge, their game intelligence.
"I have got good players at the club but they also have good game intelligence and they understand different formations, different structures and different positions."
