WERE one a neutral supporter at this absorbing game - though there is no overwhelming reason to have been there - one would have been pleased with the daft moments, those silly errors that contributed to so much entertainment and five goals, each of enormous merit.

Players and manager, however, frown on such slips and pledge to rectify them on the training ground, as if a giant magic wand could be brought from a dressing-room cupboard to wipe away sins and decree that they never reappear.

John Hughes, the Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager, was his usual, good-natured self as he absolved those unnamed members of his side - Gary Warren and Ross Draper - whose aberrations allowed Aberdeen to secure their win.

Warren's slack header back to the frequently unconvincing Dean Brill, afforded Adam Rooney the chance to score his fifth goal in three games, while a failure by Draper to control the ball properly just outside his penalty area gave the increasingly sharp David Goodwillie an opportunity to strike a thunderous shot, which was parried by Brill for Jonny Hayes to hit the winner.

That the visitors were less than assertive as Hayes and Peter Pawlett linked up for Goodwillie to feed Shay Logan to score minutes before the break would simply have compounded Hughes' concerns over half-time tea and biscuits, despite his undoubted pleasure at seeing his side go in front through Josh Meekings' clever header from a Greg Tansey free-kick - an Aberdeen defensive blunder this time - before Rooney's equaliser.

Yet, when Marley Watkins displayed drive and skill in leaving the Aberdeen defence in his wake to level the score five minutes into the second half, there was never a thought, Hughes insisted, that he would instruct his team to erect the barriers and try to retain what they had. He may well regret such a strategy today, despite his ebullience in the media room soon after the final whistle had blown.

Aberdeen's victory was merited and they appear a more complete side than they were last season, even without the services on Saturday of Russell Anderson, Niall McGinn and Ryan Jack, all released from the Pittodrie treatment room to view from the stand.

For many, Goodwillie stole the show with his work off and on the ball and it appears as if he has found contentment in a red shirt following three years in a kind of wilderness when Blackburn Rovers paid Dundee United £2m for his services then couldn't decide what to do with him.

Barry Robson, now in the twilight of a career that took him from Inverness to Tannadice, Celtic, Middlesbrough and, after a short stay at Vancouver Whitecaps, to another brief stop at Sheffield United, understands his team-mate's predicament as a footballing nomad seeking a permanent home.

"David is a terrific kid and he brings a lot to the dressing room," he said. "He was with me at Dundee United as a kid and I've always been impressed with him.

"He's got great hunger and stays behind every day to work in the gym. I'm sure he will be an asset here. Long may it continue as we're going to need him this season.

"I was down south myself with a million pound price tag on my head and it's not easy. It's a much higher level and you can find yourself in a position where the manager doesn't rate you or other players are playing ahead of you.

"It's a lot different but David has come back up here and if he keeps doing well clubs will come calling for him again, but I'm sure Aberdeen will want to hang on to him for a while yet.

"The manager and Tony [Docherty, the assistant manager] have put an arm around him and they're making sure he is doing things the way they want him to, and it's paying off."

Watkins, meanwhile, insisted the blame game would not be played at the post-match debriefing today.

"It's a team game," he said. "So there's no point blaming anyone. Our final ball at the other end could have been better, too, so it's not just at the back where we were not at our best."