A GOAL, a point and 45 minutes of domination each.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Ross County were inseparable by the end of a Highland derby which was short on quality but always compelling.

One goalkeeper kept the home team in the game in the first half, the other saved County in the second. Neither manager reacted much when the final whistle went but this was a better result for Jim McIntyre in his first derby in charge of County. They took an away point against a team nine places and 13 points above them in the SPFL Premiership table. It was their first point of the season against an opponent in the top six.

A Sunday lunchtime kick-off, a chilly day and live television coverage dampened Highland enthusiasm. Only 3741 turned up, a depressing attendance and the first sub-4000 crowd for any meeting between the clubs in the top flight.

In the first half Inverness's use of the ball was atrocious and such was County's dominance that only Dean Brill's saves kept the score at 0-1. An equaliser early in the second half redrew the game. Inverness then pummelled Mark Brown's goal, drawing one breathtaking save from a Billy McKay volley in the six-yard box.

Brown used to be John Hughes' goalkeeper at Hibs and he spoke warmly with the Inverness manager in the tunnel after the game. "He told me I didn't make saves like that for him at Hibs," said a smiling Brown.

County remain bottom of the table, three points behind St Mirren and Motherwell, but this built on their win against Dundee last week and at last there has been a bounce from replacing Derek Adams with McIntyre. The Dingwall club appointed a goalkeeping coach last week. Brown joked that the results had been instant.

At first, Inverness could not have looked more uncomfortable with the ball if they had been playing pass-the-parcel with a nuclear rod. Hughes had clearly drilled it into them to play from the back and repeatedly that was their undoing.

Their jittery, unsure touches around their own penalty area invited County on to them. The home side were caught in possession again and again. The commitment to building moves from their back four is admirable enough but sticking to that was baffling during a first half in which their touch was off.

The County goal came after 20 minutes. Rocco Quinn fired over a cross from the left wing and the Inverness defence froze. Yoann Arguin rose above Josh Meekings to connect with a downward header back across Brill into the net. Cue shouting and finger-pointing between Brill and his defenders. It had not been their first mistake of the day, as Filip Kiss and Jackson Irvine both had attempts on goal after Ross Draper was short with a passback.

Quinn had three chances, one of them saved by Brill's legs. The goalkeeper saved a Graham Carey free-kick too, and best of all a fierce Arquin effort after the striker made a chance for himself with a lovely first touch from Kiss's pass. County were enjoying themselves and Inverness's bombscare passing offered them plenty of encouragement.

There was very little coming back at them. McKay had a shot easily saved at the start of the first half and Ryan Christie jabbed at a chance in the goalmouth near the end of it. In between it was all County.

They tossed away another chance right at the start of the second half as Arquin blazed one over when he should have squared to Quinn. And then the game changed. In an Inverness move Ryan Christie's cross flew towards Marley Watkins in the goalmouth. He was in almost exactly the spot Arquin had scored from, and Watkins converted too with a calm sidefooted finish. Suddenly we had a new Inverness.

All the purpose and crispness missing from them in the first half? Here it was. The goal lifted them and they went for County, flooding on to them. A delicious Aaron Doran run almost set up Watkins to score again. Then Mckay held off Ben Frempah to squirt a shot just wide.

The reflex save Brown produced to deny McKay's flicked finish was wonderful. Another, after Graeme Shinnie's deft lay-off set Ross Draper for a thunderous shot, was good too. The pressure was relentless and County did well to survive. A draw was fair.

"We need to start being a bit more ruthless with our chances," said McIntyre. "But you have to say Inverness threw everything at us, heroic goalkeeping, heroic blocks, and what that tells me is that the spirit is there, fighting for each other, throwing our bodies on the line."

Hughes was philosophical. "We couldn't get to grips to it, we were second best to every ball," said the Inverness manager. "At half-time we tweaked it a little bit. For them to go out in the second half and implement what we were saying to them tactically in the dressing room, all credit to them. We had enough chances in the second half to win two games."