PETER HOUSTON may wish, on reflection, that he had not bothered joining the Highland tourist trail to Inverness at the weekend.

The Falkirk manager would certainly have had plenty to occupy his thoughts as he journeyed back down the A9 after witnessing Inverness Caledonian Thistle's clinical dismantling of Dundee United for the third time this season.

Houston may have spotted certain flaws in his Scottish Cup final rivals that he feels his Championship side will be able to exploit at Hampden Park in 12 days time.

But one suspects that he will not have been heartened by his visit to the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, given the manner of Inverness' performance and the competent way they dealt with the opposition.

In addition to exploiting United's glaring weaknesses at set-pieces resulting in two of the goals, Inverness had a swagger about them that suggests an air of confidence and purpose ahead of the club's first-ever Scottish Cup final.

That should not be mistaken for arrogance or complacency. John Hughes and the majority of his players are long enough in the tooth not to make the mistake of underestimating the opposition on May 30.

After all, Inverness is the team that inspired the wonderful tabloid headline "Super Caley Go Ballistic Celtic Are Atrocious" and know from personal experience the pitfalls of dismissing opponents lightly.

But if Inverness had a spring in their step, United were heavy-footed by comparison and lacked self-belief to the extent that they crumbled as soon as Josh Meekings had scored nine minutes into the second half.

By the time substitute Nick Ross and central defender Gary Warren had struck twice more, in the 80th and 83rd minutes, Houston had presumably seen more than enough to remind him of the magnitude of the task his side will face in their bid to end a 58-year wait to win the trophy for a third time.

John Hughes, the Inverness manager, stressed the importance of momentum, so he was understandably pleased that his side racked up a third consecutive victory to also extend their unbeaten run to four matches.

But Inverness have been a model of consistency for most of the season and have lost only four times in 22 fixtures since the turn of the year.

What wouldn't United give to be able to boast similar credentials? Instead they will regroup for the Dundee derby this weekend knowing that they must win and St Johnstone must fail to take more than a single point from their visit to Pittodrie on Sunday if they are dislodge their Tayside rivals from fourth spot in the SPFL and claim a Europa League place.

But John Rankin, their experienced midfield player and former Caley Thistle servant, espoused the view that United need to develop a much tougher mindset.

"We can't be a soft touch for teams," he said. "We have to stand up and be counted. They were more ruthless than us at both ends of the pitch.

"We hoped we could win to retain our advantage for a European spot but now we need favours. Even if we do the business against Dundee next weekend it won't guarantee us fourth spot now.

"We probably had three good chances to score in the first half, myself included, but once we lost a goal early in the second it was as if the heads went down and we never got back into the game.

"But I don't think there's a confidence issue. Maybe players can question form, that's fair enough, but the boys seem confident at training.

"What people forget is that not many of our team have played a full season in the SPFL and at a stage when you need players who have been through it a few times so they know what's needed to go and dig out a result, we don't have that.

"But this club is all about bringing through youth and next season we'll be a year stronger. But we also want to achieve something and finishing fifth would be seen as failure."

Hughes says his players are giving him a headache trying to decide which of them to disappoint, but one who hopes to be given the nod is Aaron Doran after the Irishman missed out on a starting place in the League Cup final against Aberdeen 14 months ago.

"That was the only game where I was on the bench last season so to make the team for the biggest cup game in Scottish football would be fantastic and mean everything to me," the Irishman said.

"I didn't see this start coming but I was happy with what I contributed and with what I've done in the game time I've been given this season.

"I was downhearted after the St Johnstone game as I scored and then dropped out of the team, but I kept my head up, started again in this game, and, hopefully I can stay there for the final."