UNDER Terry Butcher, he could not stop scoring - forging a fearsome reputation as one of the country's deadliest finishers.

Whether by coincidence or not, goals from Billy McKay have become rarer events as John Hughes' new way of playing has been bedded in. His is a captivating style that took Inverness Caledonian Thistle back to the top of the table on Saturday night but one where, it seems, the Northern Ireland internationalist's predatory instincts are made less potent.

McKay, in fairness, has been here before. He hit just one in the opening eight matches of 2012/13, just as he has so far this season, yet went on to record a wonderful haul of 27 by May's end. In all, the Corby-born 25-year-old claimed a marvellous 49 over the previous two seasons.

The goals have not dried up completely under Hughes, with 10 netted in the current manager's 38 matches to date - the kind of record for which many strikers would bite off your hand. What remains to be seen is whether the current dry patch is one of the sort he has suffered from time to time in his career, or a symptom of a new style of play that is proving effective for team fortunes but less so for his own productivity.

McKay, for his part, retains a healthy belief that the goals will flow. "It is a little bit frustrating," he said. "Especially today, I thought on another day with a better final ball I could have had a couple of goals at least. It wasn't to be, but as long as the team is winning and picking up points that's the main thing.

"I've been through spells like this before and you just have to keep persevering and working hard for the team and eventually the goals will come. It is important when you are not scoring every week you contribute in other ways and do all you can to create for others to put the ball in the net."

Not too many sniffs at goal came McKay's way despite Inverness domination against St Johnstone for long spells of this match. There was a classic moment of frustration before the opening goal when McKay timed an attacking run to perfection behind the visiting defence only to see the otherwise excellent Marley Watkins badly overcook the pass.

On another occasion, McKay, with typical stealth, did slip free of his marker to the right of the box and cut in a strong shot to test Alan Mannus. But the goals for Inverness were to come from different sources.

First, Watkins made amends for his earlier error in denying McKay a clear chance by working a wonderful move with Aaron Doran. Picking the ball up deep in midfield, Watkins threaded Doran into space on the left and then gratefully received a perfectly-weighted return. The Welshman then had time to control and slot the shot past the outcoming Mannus for the crucial opener.

Five minutes later, Doran was again in the thick of it, linking with Graeme Shinnie before he teed up young Ryan Christie for a deadly low strike past Mannus from inside the left angle of the box.

St Johnstone then improved, building towards a flurry of late pressure, particularly after Brian Graham had rattled the hosts with his second goal in as many games. The striker smacked a header past the previously untroubled Dean Brill from Lee Croft's cross in the 78th minute to spark hopes of a Perth comeback that never quite materialised despite home jitters. McKay summed up the home side's afternoon succinctly.

He said: "We were comfortable, but when we went 2-0 up I think we got a bit too comfortable. We should have really pushed on and tried to get the third goal, but we sat back a bit and they got the goal which made it a bit of a game towards the end. However, I thought up until they scored it was one of the most comfortable games we've had. And it turned out to be a really good three points.

"I thought on another day, with a little bit of a better final ball, we could have got four or five. We got two goals though, and we got the win which is the main thing.

"The start of the week wasn't too good for us, going out of the League Cup to Rangers after losing in the league at Partick last week. But we put in a good performance against St Johnstone, got the three points and we're sitting top of the league tonight so we can't complain."

For the losers, there was plenty to grumble about. But Saints defender Frazer Wright is hoping tomorrow night's League Cup test can be the tonic to lift the St Johnstone blues.

"We have done very well in the cup games we've played over the last couple of years," he said. "So hopefully that's the tonic we need to kick on. I'm not too sure why cup football suits us so well. Maybe the one-off games suit us. We go out knowing we have to win, but that has to be our mentality for every game."

Wright admitted there had been some frank and honest exchange of views in the dressing room. "We had a good airing of views after the match and that's healthy," he said. "There's no point in keeping it all bottled up."