Inverness winger Jonny Hayes has said that he is not worried about facing SPL leaders Celtic in the Scottish Cup, because teams have to knock out bigger sides at some point.

Hayes said that he saw no reason why Inverness couldn’t cause an upset and insisted that any side that had ambitions to win silverware had to be prepared to face a side of Celtic at some point in the competition.

"Celtic are probably the best team in Scotland right now so we might as well play Celtic in the fifth round and beat them and it's an easier route to the final,” Hayes said.

"Once Rangers and Celtic are out the competition, the bookies tend to slash odds on other teams.

"Ross County put Celtic out a few years ago, I know we have got them earlier but there's no reason why we can't do it.

"A few of the lads were saying before the draw: 'I bet we get Celtic'. But it doesn't faze anybody.

"It's just another 90 minutes on the same pitch and we're looking forward to it."

It’s now 12 years since Inverness defeated Celtic in a famous win that led to the memorable headline: 'Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious'.

Hayes admitted that the headline was the first time he had heard of the club but said that Inverness’ progress meant that a win would not be as momentous this season.

"Before I signed for the club, I didn't really know much about the club apart from that headline,” he added.

"Apart from Terry Butcher being the manager and them being in Scotland, I think the headline was the only thing I knew about the club.

"It was big in Ireland obviously. Ninety nine percent of people where I come from are Celtic fans and everybody was gutted. The headline even made the papers in Ireland.

"If we beat Celtic on Saturday I don't think it will be such a big headline.

"What the lads did 10 or 11 years ago was tremendous because Inverness were a lot smaller back then.

"Last season we beat Celtic 3-2 at the end of the season and not much was made of it, barring it losing Celtic the league.

"There wasn't much really said about the game itself because people know what to expect when they come up here. If we perform to our best we can beat anybody."