DUNDEE UNITED 2 INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 1 Dundee United chalked up a deserved win at Tannadice to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for Europe.
Jackie McNamara's side continued their recent run of fine form thanks to second-half goals from Ryan Gauld and Ryan Dow, which were enough to give them the points despite substitute Liam Polworth's late strike for John Hughes' men.
It now means they are five points behind second-placed Aberdeen. who they face this weekend, while Caley Thistle's European aspirations look something of a long shot.
However, the visitors began brightest by forging the first real attack inside five minutes.
Josh Meekings fed a pass to Billy McKay, and he had nothing else on his mind but to try his luck from outside the penalty area. The Northern Ireland ace unleashed a left-foot shot which Radoslaw Cierzniak had to look lively to gather with both hands.
That stung the hosts into action and Gauld set up Dow and from 12 yards his effort was comfortably saved by Inverness goalkeeper Dean Brill.
Inverness' Ross Draper was fortunate not to become the first player to enter referee Euan Norris' book for going in late on Gauld midway through the first half.
Soon after Richie Foran attempted to lift things with a speculative shot from distance which was never going to seriously trouble Dundee United keeper Cierzniak.
They did, though, come within inches of taking the lead with a well-crafted move on the half hour.
Greg Tansey's defence-splitting pass was perfect for McKay to run onto inside the left channel. McKay looked like he had claimed his 22nd goal of the season, only for Gavin Gunning to race back in time to clear his effort off the line.
Then, at the other end, United's Nadir Ciftci rifled in an effort from the edge of the penalty area which Brill was relieved so see speed low past his right-hand post.
There was more purpose about the home team after the break and that was rewarded with the opening goal in the 49th minute.
A flowing move saw Andrew Robertson release Stuart Armstrong, whose pass then found Gauld. Gauld's first effort was blocked on the line by full-back Graeme Shinnie, but from the rebound the teenager made no mistake by despatching the ball into the empty net from close-range.
United set about looking to add to their tally and soon after Ciftci saw his curling free-kick just clear the bar.
They did not have to wait too much longer before increasing their lead in farcical circumstances in the 76th minute.
Brill rolled the ball out to Meekings, who gave it back to his keeper. But Brill succeeded in only rattling the ball off Dow, who had the simple task of knocking the ball home from a matter of yards.
Inverness substitute Polworth, pulled one back in spectacular fashion five minutes later, drilling the ball into Cierzniak's top corner from fully 30 yards.
But it was not enough to trouble the hosts towards the end, who deserved their latest victory on the strength of their second half performance.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article