Stephen Glass will have his Aberdeen squad focused fully on the Scottish Cup when Dundee United visit Pittodrie on Sunday.
The Dons are chasing Hibernian for third spot in the Premiership but trail the Easter Road club by six points with three fixtures remaining.
However, this weekend, Glass – who succeeded Derek McInnes as boss last month – will look to take his new side into the semi-finals of a competition last won by the Granite City club in 1990.
The former Dons player said: "We are in a situation that we are able to assess the group before the end of the season.
"There is a great group of players who are determined to win as many league games as they can and win all the cup games we have the chance to.
"Aberdeen teams want to win trophies. So it is important that this weekend we have full focus on it.
"When we go to Livingston in the league next Saturday we will have full focus on that.
"We are not going to be in a position where we are resting boys to see what happens.
"While third is still a possibility we will be doing everything we can to get it but this weekend the league doesn't matter, the cup is 100 per cent importance for us.
"The players are well aware of the importance of the game. They are well aware of what it means to play at Aberdeen and win a trophy."
The Dons have drawn twice and lost once in three Premiership meetings with the Taysiders this season and Glass factors that into the incentive column.
He said: "It almost doesn't matter who is coming, you know you are in for a tough game because everybody wants to get to Hampden.
"The fact that it's Dundee United and the group hasn't beaten them this season, I am sure there is a big incentive in that respect anyway and add the fact that it is the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup on our own patch and the group will be determined to win the game.
"But I am sure Dundee United will be determined to win the game as well."
Glass has plenty of respect for Micky Mellon's side. He said: "They are a good team, they have good players, they have a manager who is hugely experienced, he has been a manager for longer than me.
"So it is dangerous but since we have come in as a staff, we have faced Livingston, a tough challenge, we have faced Celtic, a different challenge and Dundee United is an altogether different challenge again, maybe a mix of the two almost because we know they are physically capable and have some really good footballers in their team as well.
"So it is up to us to prepare properly, make them aware of the dangers, aware of the places we think we can exploit and then it is down to the boys on the pitch as it always is, but as long as we have done our job preparing them, I think we will be OK."
