Derek McInnes has revealed his St Johnstone players will be motivated by revenge and a trip to Hampden Park when they face Dundee United in the Co-operative Insurance Cup.

McInnes will urge Saints to make amends for last month's 3-2 Clydesdale Bank Premier League defeat to their local rivals, as well as reminding them they are one win away from a semi-final at the national stadium next year.

"It will be difficult for us but we've got to go into the game with a bit of confidence," McInnes said.

"We lost narrowly in the league to them a couple of weeks ago and that was a sore one to take.

"It's an ideal opportunity to make amends."

He added: "When you get to this stage, you're up against good sides.

"Dundee United have proven that over the last couple seasons and they're doing so again this season.

"They'll have the same aspirations as ourselves.

"But we know there's a reward for us at the end of it.

"If we can get through this, it's a big, big thing for everybody getting to Hampden and the chance of getting to a final."

Saints have not reached the final of a major cup competition since finishing runners-up in the League Cup 11 years ago.

They lost out to Rangers that day, as they did on their last trip to Hampden when the sides needed penalties to separate them in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

Reaching the same stage again should be helped by the fact Saints have finally been handed a home tie after three successive away draws.

However, McInnes' men have enjoyed their League Cup road trips, racking up 14 goals in games against Stenhousemuir, Arbroath and Hibernian.

"We've scored a lot of goals, we've got a couple of good results," McInnes said.

"But especially being a quarter-final tie, we were hoping for a home draw and we've got that.

"We need to use any sort of advantage that we have and make that count for something."

McInnes therefore knows the importance of having McDiarmid Park as full as possible on Tuesday night.

"There was a big crowd for the league game and you expect good support for these sort of games," he said.

"It's a local derby and it doesn't get much better than that so we hope to get a big crowd and a good atmosphere and that could drive us on to a performance.

"We're really looking forward to the tie."