McDonald played under Butcher at Motherwell for two-and-a-half years and their determined personalities made it a fiery relationship.

The striker knows Inverness can expect to face the full force of the former England captain's will to win if they fail to put in the effort.

The Highlanders have lost eight Clydesdale Bank Premier League games in a row to leave Butcher fighting an uphill struggle to avoid the drop.

But McDonald knows that the one thing Butcher does not lack is fight.

"Always, when a new manager comes in anywhere, it's fresh ideas and everyone is out to impress," the Australian said.

"I'm sure they will be out to prove a point to him so it's going to be a tough game.

"Working with him, he's a man that is full of motivation. He has got his own ideas on how he wants to play and he'll certainly get that across to them, that's for sure."

McDonald goes into the game on a high having scored the winning penalty in Celtic's 11-10 shootout win over Dundee United following a goalless Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final at Hampden.

The strike set up a clash with Rangers on March 15 and McDonald is looking to atone for his previous appearance in the final of the competition - Well's heavy defeat to the Ibrox club in 2005.

"It's terrific, what an atmosphere that is going to be," the former Southampton player said.

"It's something to look forward to; the guys were saying it's been six years since the last Old Firm final.

"It's going to be a great spectacle for the fans, the media, the players.

"These are the type of games you look at and you can see your names written in the stars. So hopefully that can be the case.

"Obviously, I've been to one before but it was a disappointment. It wasn't a very memorable occasion, getting beat 5-1 by Rangers.

"So it would be nice to turn that round this time."

McDonald admits he faces a fight to keep his place in the Celtic team before then following the return from injury of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

Georgios Samaras had to settle for a place on the bench at Hampden on Wednesday night but he came on to good effect, with Celtic struggling to create chances for a long spell after half-time.

McDonald said: "I played with Jan a lot of times last year and it was a great combination, but I think Sami came on and changed it for us quite a bit.

"He gave us a bit more legs. Jan's not had many games but it could probably have been either of the two of us coming off if I'm honest.

"He did a tremendous job and he showed what he can do.

"It's going to be hard; none of us can play every single game but we've just got to stick at it and try and impress the manager."