ONE of life's great questions was put to the test in the Highlands yesterday.

What happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? Well, on the evidence of the first 70 minutes of the 1-1 draw between Inverness Caledonian Thistle and St Johnstone, not a lot.

Steve Lomas's side travelled to Imnverness with the incentive of breaking a club record by securing six top-flight victories in a row, while their hosts were undefeated in their last five. A thrilling spectacle of end-to-end football was in store.

Unfortunately for the 3154 who braved the brisk conditions, it was nothing of the sort. As the temperature plummeted so low it would have threatened the manhood of a brass monkey, neither Terry Butcher nor the visitors produced much in the opening hour or so to warm the cockles of their support.

Instead it took the exit of injured St Johnstone centre-half Frazer Wright for the game to open up. Within minutes of his departure, his side had given away a penalty after Gary Miller upended Graeme Shinnie – only for his brother Andrew to miss the resultant spot-kick – and conceded a goal thanks to a Billy McKay half-volley before rescuing a point with virtually the last attack thanks to a David Robertson header. If only it had arrived sooner.

"We should have won it, deserved to win it, but one long ball in the box we didn't deal with it and Robbo scored," said Butcher. "It took us a while to get going. The more the game went on the better we looked. A second goal would have won it for us."

The visitors had scored 11 in their previous four games before travelling up the A9, however their Midas touch was replaced by that of an elephant in the first half. Former Inverness striker Gregory Tade was a nuisance, more so to his own manager though than to the Caley defence.

Firstly, he failed to capitalise on a Josh Meekings' slip by hesitating while one-on-one with keeper Antonio Reguero, only for him to somehow miss a gaping goal with a header on 30 minutes.

Despite their territorial dominance, Butcher's men were equally impotent in the first period, a tame Ross Draper header the best they could muster. Even when presented with a golden ticket through their spot-kick to take the lead, Andrew Shinnie sent the ball high into the stand.

His blushes were spared a minute later as he provided the through ball for McKay, who patiently waited for it to drop before lashing a left-footed half volley beyond Alan Mannus.

Caley, clearly invigorated by their opener, should have killed the game off. Andrew Shinnie was guilty of missing a gaping goal from a Draper knockdown on 80 minutes, his sibling also rifled a free-kick straight at Mannus. The visiting defence, whose last clean sheet came on September 1, was beginning to creak. However, after Liam Craig conspired to blaze over a glorious chance to level with only five minutes to go, Inverness's defence was finally breached. Robertson, who replaced the injured Tade much to the amusement of the frozen home support, was to provide the goal that, in truth, never looked like coming. The midfielder pounced on a hopeful punt by Mannus to nod over a stranded Reguero.

"We stuck at it, but we didn't play well today," admitted Lomas. "The first half was pretty even, we probably had the better chances. Terry's boys pushed forward and hit us on the counter-attack and probably should have killed off the game. I'm delighted for David Robertson because it's been a frustrating time since he came here. But he has worked hard."