An encouraging draw against Celtic has lifted the spirits in Inverness and they want to get back to improving on that and winning games.

Terry Butcher is looking forward to forgetting about the league problems his Inverness sides faces at least for the weekend as he prepares for the Homecoming Scottish Cup game against Kilmarnock. However, some of his players really want to build on Sunday's draw with Celtic by picking up more points as soon as possible. They will have to wait another week before their next league game at Dundee United when points will be at stake again. Butcher is in no mood to accept nothing less than 100% commitment against Killie. He said: "One of two said they'd rather play a league game this weekend, but I'm not bothered. We're playing SPL opposition and very dangerous side too in Kilmarnock. They're a very good team that's the most important aspect. I'm just looking for the guys to reproduce the spirit and the work-rate they showed against Celtic. In the past, I think the boys had that fear factor about games; there should be no fear - it's a cup game. Saturday is another match to build on and we're looking forward to pitting our wits against Kilmarnock, who will be well-organised under Jim Jeffries and Billy Brown."

With heavy snow having an impact on travel and availability of training facilities, Inverness have been unable to head to their normal Fort George training ground. Instead, they travelled across the Kessock Bridge and shared the Highland Football Academy with Ross County. The cold and change in routine has failed to scupper the feelgood factor at the club, which Butcher claims is getting stronger. he said: "The boys are up, lively and very chatty I haven't heard them so vocal since myself and Maurice (Malpas) arrived. The confidence has definitely increased. The guys have showed that they're enjoying the sessions but the most important thing is to take that onto the pitch on Saturday against Killie. Everything we've learned from the training ground had to be reproduced come 3pm Saturday, where it matters. Coming to work every day with a smile on your face really helps and being together breeds confidence and being in each other's company increases the belief."

Partick Thistle lost out to Inverness in the last round of the cup, with new loanee Filipe Morais scoring twice in a 3-0 win. Since then, goals have been few and far between and Butcher has stressed the importance of hitting the back of the net more often. He said: "We haven't been doing that of late and that's been a problem this season. The last time we did score freely was against Partick in the last round. Hopefully we can top off a lot of good approach play from last Sunday. The lads have been showing me in training they're hungry for goals with some top-quality strikes."

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