IT was all beginning to look rather miserable in the Highlands.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle have endured a difficult start to the season and a steady downpour of rain and overcast sky did little to suggest things were about to become any brighter. A battling home victory against St Mirren soon changed that.

It seemed typical of Inverness – a club whose provincial status readily has them disregarded in the top flight – to deliver a stern rebuke to any concerns about their ability to arrest their unimpressive form. Goals from Andrew Shinnie and Gregory Tade secured the points, while the home side also benefited from a dubious offside award against their visitors late on.

The win will have been somewhat cathartic for Terry Butcher. The Inverness manager opted to rebuild his squad over the summer, jettisoning stalwarts such as Russell Duncan and Grant Munro and replenishing his ranks with youthful individuals such as Greg Tansey and Aaron Doran.

As a spate of injuries ravaged his squad, the scale of Butcher’s renovation began to look a little too extensive. However, it was one of Butcher’s young summer recruits who was the architect of yesterday’s result. Shinnie joined up following his release by Rangers and he is beginning to look like a shrewd acquisition.

The 22-year-old, whose brother Graeme established himself as Inverness’ first-choice left-back after a series of impressive outings last season, took just 40 seconds to grab the attention against Danny Lennon’s side.

Allowed to roam freely behind lone striker Richie Foran, Shinnie burst on to a loose ball after a stumble from Lee Mair and cut a pass towards the Inverness striker, who prodded wide. It was an infectious problem for the hosts during the first half as Tade in particular spurned a number of opportunities.

It took Shinnie to address the profligacy, although not until after Marc McAusland had given St Mirren an unexpected lead with a powerful header from Gary Teale’s corner midway through the first half. The scores were levelled when David Davis swung a deep cross towards Foran who headed the ball to the feet of Shinnie and he sent a low drive past Craig Samson.

Shinnie struck the post a minute after the break and Samson was also required to punch Ross Tokely’s header away from Foran.

The midfielder was also instrumental in Inverness’s winner when he broke forward once again after 78 minutes and struck the post, with the ball then rebounding rather fortuitously in off Tade. “I think he was quite embarrassed about it but all strikers will take that,” Butcher said of the Frenchman. “He was marking McAusland when he scored so he has gone from zero to hero.”

Paul McGowan thought he had snatched a point for St Mirren in injury time, only for his effort to be ruled out by a contentious offside decision. “It was well onside,” insisted manager Lennon, who sought out video evidence afterwards. “We didn’t deserve anything from the game, but we would have taken it and gone back down the road with our tail between our legs.”

Indeed, it was a laboured performance from the Paisley side, and one in which they failed repeatedly to create chances. That their opener had come from a set-piece was hardly surprising, then, and their blunt display perplexed their manager who had seen his team score five goals in their previous two games.

“That’s not our St Mirren team that turned up today,” Lennon said. “[Inverness] were creative and we failed to handle players like Tade – it was fortunate for us that he didn’t have his shooting boots on.”