Billy McKay's double helped Inverness cruise to victory against Aberdeen.
Andrew Shinnie opened the scoring for the hosts nine minutes into the second half and McKay wrapped up victory with goals in the 61st and 78th minutes.
Inverness manager Terry Butcher enjoyed some cheers from the home fans who showed appreciation for him turning down the chance to move to Championship side Barnsley earlier this month.
His commitment to the Highlanders came as his men extended their unbeaten run to 10 games in all competitions.
Both sides made just one change to their starting line-ups from before the winter break.
Josh Meekings came in for Matthew Cooper for the hosts.
Stephen Hughes came in for Ryan Fraser, who moved to Bournemouth this week, in the only change to the Dons side.
Caley Thistle keeper Antonio Reguero was called into action early, tipping over an effort from Aberdeen's top scorer Niall McGinn.
At the opposite end Richie Foran tested keeper Jamie Langfield, who turned the chance wide.
Former Caley Thistle star Jonny Hayes fired over in an end-to-end opening period.
Hayes had another chance at the mid-point of the first half but Reguero was equal to his low shot.
Andrew Shinnie was unmarked as he guided a header inches over from a David Raven cross.
Hayes continued to threaten on the right wing and cut the ball back to McGinn who shot just over.
Joe Shaughnessy curled an attempt wide as neither side could be separated at the break.
Aberdeen started brightly with Hayes cutting inside Graeme Shinnie and Gary Warren before being thwarted by a terrific save from Reguero.
It proved crucial as Inverness made the breakthrough through Andrew Shinnie on 54 minutes.
After being played in by Aaron Doran, he cut inside Dons captain Russell Anderson then rifled the ball past Langfield into the roof of the net from an acute angle. It was the Scotland attacking midfielder's 12th goal of the season.
Seven minutes later Mckay doubled Inverness's lead. The SPL's top scorer showed composure to tuck the ball past Langfield from 10 yards after being found by Ross Draper.
Midfielder Draper could have made it three when he beat the offside trap after a Foran through ball and guided the ball inches wide.
Another goal did arrive seconds later when McKay thundered a shot from the edge of the area home in 78 minutes.
Raven's cross was flicked on by Andrew Shinnie and the Northern Ireland international netted for his 20th of the season.
Aberdeen showed little resistance as the hosts saw out the closing stages comfortably.
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