The sight of a broken Scottish Cup might have been considered ominous by more fragile souls but John Hughes was unperturbed after the famous old trophy took a tumble during its visit to the Highland capital yesterday, writes Kevin Ferrie.

With his Inverness Caledonian Thistle players meeting the press at a hotel just outside the city a clumsy piece of balancing by one of the assembled photographers saw a gust of wind blow the cup off a table, resulting in the footballer figurine which sits atop it being broken off.

The ICT manager did not witness the incident and while he did see the consequences he dismissed any suggestion that it might mean the portents were bad for his club.

"I saw someone trying to get Super Glue for the cup, but it's not a bad omen," he said with a grimace.

"I'm not superstitious, I don't bother my backside."

He reinforced his point by stating that he has paid no attention to another common tradition, preferring instead to focus on things he has been able to have some control over.

"I've touched the cup several times this week as well, it doesn't bother me," said Hughes.

"No matter what, what these boys have done this year, the biggest thing we've created history and we can go and win the Scottish Cup.

"We might lose the Scottish Cup but it's been a fantastic season and we want desperately to bring it back to Inverness but the most pleasing thing for me is the style in which we've done it."