Steven Pressley (left) praised his team's determination

"I had to make changes near the end, some of them desperate," said the Celtic manager. "But desperate times call for desperate measures.

"With five minutes to go, and after the equaliser, I was happy to settle for the draw and a replay.

"But the players said no and I'm just glad they are on my side."

Interview: Celtic manager Gordon Strachan

Interview: Celtic player Steven Pressley

Indeed, Strachan was pleased with his side's play, despite leaving it late to claim a semi-final place.

"That's the best we've played up here in my time in terms of making sure Inverness didn't get many chances," he said.

We show terrific spirit and a never-say-die attitude Celtic defender Steven Pressley

"We never made many chances ourselves, but our passing and movement was good, although our free-kicks were poor.

"But the work we put in during the first half of the game allowed us to score late in the game because they had tired."

The equaliser came from former Hearts defender Steven Pressley, for whom it was a first goal for his new club.

"Fantastic," he said. "That sums us up as a team. We show terrific spirit and a never-say-die attitude.

"At this club, we don't believe in losing football matches.

"I thought we played some terrific football but just couldn't carve out the all-important equaliser.

"Normally teams would settle for a draw after being behind for 88 minutes - we didn't.

"We went for the winner and Kenny mustered up a fantastic finish and thoroughly deserved goal for his all-round contribution."