Caley Thistle defender Gary Warren is confident his side’s Scottish Cup final preparations will be adversely affected by yesterday’s 5-0 thrashing at Celtic Park.
Manager John Hughes rang the changes for his side’s final league match before the Hampden final against Falkirk on Saturday.
His weakened side were unable to prevent Celtic celebrating the presentation of the league trophy in style thanks to a Stefan Scepovic double as well as goals from Stefan Johansen, Leigh Griffiths and Kris Commons.
Inverness rested several first team regulars for the match, including captain Graeme Shinnie, Ross Draper, Greg Tansey, David Raven and Edward Ofere.
Warren claimed the heavy defeat by the Hoops will be quickly forgotten as his club prepares for the biggest match in its history.
He said: “I’d like to think it could be us partying next week. That’s what we are looking to achieve. It’s a massive game for the players and the club. But we need to be better in the way we pass the ball if we’re going to come away with anything.
“Whenever we go to Parkhead it’s always going to be a tough game. Even with our strongest team it would have been tough. It’s disappointing we conceded five goals as four of them were preventable.
“But there were players involved who hadn’t played all season and they have experienced the biggest stage of their careers. It was a good taste for them and a good test as well.”
Warren will miss Saturday’s match against Falkirk because of suspension but the Englishman is determined to play his part in the build-up to the final.
The 30-year-old also missed last season’s League Cup final defeat by Aberdeen because of a ban but has already come to terms with sitting out another major occasion.
He added: “I’ll give the squad as much encouragement and words of wisdom as I can to try to get them through it. It will be a strange week for me but one I’ll treat exactly the same as if I was preparing for a game.
“I’ve still got an important role to play to try to help the players out. That’s how I see my role this week. I got my head round the fact I wasn’t going to feature pretty quickly and I think the experience of missing the League Cup final last season has helped me. There’s more important things in life.”