Hearts survived a second-half scare from Scottish Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle before racing away to make it into the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals.

The hosts, fresh off the back of an impressive 1-1 draw with Benfica as they exited Europa League qualifying, made plenty of changes but still appeared in control in the opening 45 minutes.

That was after Alfie Bavidge had an early strike ruled out for offside, with Hearts responding quickly when Christian Borchgrevink nodded them into the lead.

However, a two-minute double from Caley Thistle in the second half turned the game on its head.

Firstly, Ryan Duncan fired in an equaliser when he was played in one-on-one by a brilliant Danny Devine ball. Moments later, Bavidge had Inverness ahead when he drove round the keeper and slid the ball home.

Hearts, though, responded quickly. Sabah Kerjota - who hit the crossbar in the first-half with a close-range shot - danced by his man and hung up a cross which Rogers Mato powered in with a bullet header.

There was a nervy wait for the next goal, but like their visitors Hearts were able to score a quickfire double that put them into untouchable territory.

The third came from the spot, when Kerjota drew a foul from Noa Butin and Calvin Miller tucked away from 12 yards, and the fourth was also set up by the diminutive Albanian winger.

This time, his cross was deflected but Claudio Braga was still able to get a shot at goal. Inverness keeper Ross Munro was able to parry, but only up into the air, allowing teenager James Wilson to nod home from a few yards out.

Inverness started to tire while Hearts kept their foot on the gas, and they made it a five-goal performance when he got on the end of Borchgrevink's cross and found the top corner with his finish.

With the last kick, they made it six when they broke on the counter-attack. McPake played Miller through on goal and he got his second, and Hearts' sixth, when he rolled it under the goalkeeper.

Although there were a few anxious faces around Tynecastle in the second half, Hearts dominated large swathes of this game after the early wake-up call of Bavidge's disallowed strike.

The reality is they were a cut above Inverness, but the offensive nature of Wouter Vrancken's style leaves the risk that they can be cut open at the back.

Twice in quick succession, Caley Thistle did just that to their hosts. The first was a simple long ball over the top, the second was a quick counter attack.

But confidence must be taken from the instant fightback, and the final 15 minutes.

Questions have been asked about the fitness of this squad after a light pre-season, but it was the Premiership side that found an extra gear towards the end of the game.

And it was in that gear that they raced away from Caley Thistle, with Kerjota in particularly impressing hugely on the right-hand side.

Midfielder Tom Renaud's performance was notable, while young Wilson's movement and link-up play was far more effective than that of Amadou Ba-Sy, who started ahead of him.

This was a chance for those rarer-seen players in the early Vrancken days and plenty are staking a claim for a starting spot. The head coach has been left with a few headaches.

Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken: "We didn't give too many chances away, only the five minutes in the second half. Then, we have to be more direct.

"In some moments, we played too naive and we let them come into the game. We sped up a little bit and it was much easier to take the game to them.

"The players [who were given a chance] have to show what is needed, especially energy. We can evaluate them. Some did good, some not that good. It's good that everyone got more minutes in the legs."

Inverness CT boss Scott Kellacher: "For 82 minutes I can't ask for much more and the fact that they've had to bring on their big guns to try and change the game and get something out of it, I can't ask for much more. The score certainly isn't a reflection on the game.

"We'll learn a lot from the game in terms of the mistakes we made. I couldn't be prouder of the players. Lots of positives to take but I think we'll learn a lot as well."

Hearts host Rapid Vienna in the Conference League play-offs on Thursday (19:45), while Inverness welcome Partick Thistle to the Highlands on Friday night for the live BBC Scotland TV game (19:30 both BST).