REPORTS of Inverness Caledonian Thistle's demise since a heady afternoon at Hampden Park last May appear to be much-exaggerated. The Scottish Cup winners were last night making the 14-mile trip back home to the Highland capital in familiar, happy mood.

Goals from Miles Storey, a stand-out performer on-loan from Swindon Town, and trusty James Vincent, were enough to claim a fourth successive Dingwall win for the Scottish Cup holders.

County's Liam Boyce hit back late on but the deserved plaudits drawn by the host team this season were not enough to buck the decisive derby trend in Caley Thistle's favour. Notably, too, only two points now separate the sides in the league table.

The fleet-footed Storay's influence was such that John Hughes, the Inverness manager, was moved to compare him to a young Anthony Stokes, his former Falkirk charge.

"Miles is rapid-quick - and only going to get better," Hughes, who so far has the 21-year-old scorer until January only, said.

"I'm hoping to keep him beyond January. I had a young Anthony Stokes popping in goals at Falkirk and I think Miles has a wee bit of that about him."

As for the hard-earned victory, Hughes added: "They are pulling up trees at the moment so we knew we had to be solid. We wanted them to run out of steam after 20 minutes and then pick their pocket and that's what we did."

There was a suspicion the loss of Celtic-bound Christie to suspension would prove more costly to Caley Thistle than County's loss of skipper Andrew Davies to a ban. In fact, the reverse seemed true.

It was a compelling enough spectacle, gritty and uncompromising, but you had to dig deep for stand-out moments.

Approaching half-time, there was no hint of just how much the complexion of the game was about to shift, with County's slight upper hand undone.

Raven won the ball on the right and fed Liam Polworth to the right of the box. An excellent low ball to the far post left Storey with a simple finish on the six-yard line.

Matters deteriorated further for the Dingwall side with another defensive lapse on half-time.

Storey, again, was at the heart of the initial move, producing a great burst of pace to accelerate away from Scott Boyd into the box.

Keeper Scott Fox blocked the striker's low drive and defender Chris Robertson got his body behind James Vincent's follow-up. But there was no respite and from a Greg Tansey corner, Devine flicked on and James Vincent sprang to execute a close-range header for the second goal.

County, naturally, were pumped up to retaliate as the second half opened and forced a series of chances.

There was a short break in the frantic football on the hour, but not a welcome one for the Staggies. Scott Fox, the former Celtic and Partrick keeper, went down after twisting his ankle badly and had to be stretchered off.

Substitute Tony Dingwall gave County some hope inside the last 15 minutes with a fine run and cross from the right knocked for a corner.

Just as five minutes' stoppage time was announced, County were back in contention.

Raffaele De Vita's corner was headed back across the box by Chris Robertson and Boyce, was there to head his 11th goal of the season in off the inside post.

But it was never likely to be enough to salvage anything for County.

ROSS COUNTY (4-4-2) - Fox 6 (G. Woods 63 6); Fraser 6, Boyd 6, Robertson 6, Foster 6; Franks 7 (De Vita 75 4), Irvine 6, Murdoch 7, Gardyne 7; Graham 6 (Dingwall 73 5), Boyce 6. Subs: G. Woods, McShane, Holden, Reckord.

Booked: Murdoch 90

INVERNESS CT (4-2-3-1) - Fon Williams 7; Raven 7, Devine 7, Meekings 7, Williams 6 (Vigurs 90 2); Draper 7, Tansey 6; Polworth 6, Mutombo 6 (Tremarco 75 4), Vincent 8; Storey 8. Subs: Esson, Lopez, Wedderburn, Horner, Vigurs, Sutherland.

Booked: Raven 57, Draper 65, Mutombo 73

Referee: Willie Collum 7

Starman: Miles Storey. Outstanding pace, strength and awareness in all he did - as well as the finish.

ends

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031733 GMT OCT 15