Stephen Robinson is delighted St Mirren’s top-six destiny remains firmly in their own hands.
And he hopes his Buddies can rise to the challenge and match the club's supporters’ own growing ambition.
Saints currently sit sixth in the Premiership table – just three points behind Hibernian in fourth spot.
With a weekend off coming up, the Paisley club head into two potentially season-defining games against relegation-threatened Dundee United and fellow top-six hunters Livingston.
The Buddies’ last game before the split is an appetising home clash against Kilmarnock, who are fighting the drop.
And Robinson is targeting a bumper haul of nine points from those three games to ensure they finish in the top half of the table for the first time since 1985.
He told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “We have got Livingston, Dundee United and Kilmarnock in the coming weeks, with Hearts and Rangers too.
“If we can take points off the latter two and try to get maximum points out of the other three games then we can still be in a good position come the split.
"When you have a relatively successful season, for the level of football club we are, then expectation rises.
“Ultimately, we have to try and meet those expectations. We want to give the fans hope and we are in total control of what happens going forward. We’re still very much in control of our destiny.”
With Scottish Cup action taking place this weekend, St Mirren’s players have had even longer to stew over their painful 5-1 home defeat to Celtic than normal.
Robinson is adamant his players won’t sulk and insists their positivity will help them recover mentally ahead of next weekend’s trip to Tannadice to face former boss Jim Goodwin’s new charges.
Robinson said: “People will rightly be disappointed with the end result against Celtic.
“But people with some sense about them will realise that a lot of it was dictated by playing with 10 men. We have a positive group.
“For the first 45 minutes we were in control, not in terms of possession, but in limiting Celtic to where they could hurt us.
“When you have 10 men, they move you about so much.
“Ultimately, they break you down. They make you tired and they make you make tired decisions defensively.”
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