Caley Thistle defender Gary Warren is determined to make up for missing last season’s League Cup final by helping his side to Scottish Cup success.
Inverness eased into the fifth round of the national cup with a superb 4-0 win against St Mirren in Tuesday’s replay at the Caledonian Stadium.
Warren was on target for John Hughes’ side as they outclassed the Buddies to set up a fifth round match against Partick Thistle in February.
The English defender missed last season’s League Cup final penalty shootout defeat to Aberdeen because of suspension and is eager to make up for that absence with a prolonged run in the Scottish Cup.
The 30-year-old said: “It was a frustrating time for me. I am at a stage of my career where I don’t want to let opportunities pass me by. I will be striving to do all I can to get through to the next round of this competition and to get to the final.
“But we have a big hurdle to overcome against Partick Thistle. They are a good side and have already beaten us at their place this season. It will be a really tough game, but we have to turn our attention to Dundee on Saturday now.
“We have all got ambitions to do the best we can. The Scottish Cup is wide open so it is a chance for the club to not only progress through to the next round but to go as far as we can.
“Everyone saw last year how we got to the League Cup final and just missed out so there is no reason why we can’t go all the way in this competition.”
Cup football is now on the backburner until the new year but Warren hopes his side can build on the impressive display against St Mirren when it travels to Dundee at the weekend.
The Dens Park side is in buoyant mood after dumping Aberdeen out of the Scottish Cup last weekend but Warren says his team will also travel to the City of Discovery brimming with confidence.
Warren added: “It was a good performance and really pleasing to go through in such style. We were very professional from the start in the way we played.
“We want to play with a confident style of passing and I think that showed against St Mirren. We created a lot of chances and could have scored more goals. We have been striving towards that 90-minute performance for the last few weeks. There have been times when we have started games well, but haven’t finished well.
“But I think we got a good balance of both.”