Gary Warren targets League Cup final as Inverness defender reacts to quarter-final draw

Inverness defender Gary Warren is hoping to end his cup final hoodoo after Caley Thistle were handed a home derby in the League Cup.

Warren is unsure whether he will return from a leg break in time to face Ross County in their quarter-final tie on October 27-28, having only had his protective boot taken off last Tuesday.

But the centre-back will do all he can to seal a Hampden return after being suspended for last season's Scottish Cup final and the previous season's League Cup final against Aberdeen.

After the Hampden draw, Warren said: "We want to go on and win this cup. Last year we obviously had success in the Scottish Cup but we were unfortunate to miss out on the League Cup a couple of years ago. Hopefully we can go all the way this year.

"Hopefully it will come round this season and I get better luck and hopefully a chance of playing in a final, or getting that far. But obviously we have a big game against Ross County in the quarter-finals first.

"It's a bit gutting when you miss two finals consecutively. But it's part and parcel of the game.

"I just maybe have to curb my aggression a bit in the games leading up to finals but it's tough. I'm 31, if I haven't changed now, I'm never going to change. It's something I have aspirations to do and hopefully this season I get a chance of playing in a final here."

Ross County have ambitions of emulating their 2010 Scottish Cup final experience, according to midfielder Rocco Quinn.

"It's an interesting tie," Quinn said. "It was one of the priorities at the start of the season when we set out our targets, to achieve a cup run.

"We are really happy with the progress we have made in the cup so far and hopefully we can get a wee bit further than we have done in previous seasons."

Celtic will need to be more clinical when they travel to Hearts for their quarter-final after being held to a goalless draw by Robbie Neilson's team in the Premiership on Saturday.

First-team coach John Kennedy said: "It's a tough draw, probably as tough as we could have got.

"They showed a side to them on Saturday that they maybe haven't shown as well this season, defensively they were very organised and Robbie had them drilled very well.

"There was a real willingness to defend their goal and we found it very difficult to break them down second half and get a clear opportunity. We had some first half which we should have taken advantage of but second half they put in a very fine defensive performance."

Hearts striker Gavin Reilly said: "You've got to go into every game being confident. We went to Parkhead on Saturday and got a good away point there. We are at home for this tie and we have to take the game to them."

Hibs were handed another home tie as reward for their victory over Scottish Premiership leaders Aberdeen, and have a chance to avenge last season's penalty shoot-out defeat to Dundee United at the same stage.

Midfielder John McGinn said: "We've got players who feel we deserve to be playing in the top flight and games like the one against Aberdeen are important for us to prove we can still cut it at that level. Hopefully against Dundee United we can do the same.

"It had a brilliant cup-tie feel to it against Aberdeen and the supporters were brilliant. It's something I have not really seen so far, just the atmosphere and everything about the game was brilliant and I hope it's not the last one."