THERE may have been only a few stragglers left in the stands to witness it, but Terry Butcher's exuberant celebration at the end of his team's victory had the Kilmarnock fans who did remain in the ground averting their gaze.

The Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager stood alone on the Rugby Park turf, alternating between pumping his fists in the air and pounding the badge emblazoned on his jacket, triggering rapturous applause from the small travelling support.

It may have been showmanship by the Englishman, or just unbridled joy as his side continued where they left off before the international break - at the summit of the SPFL Premiership table and looking unshakable.

While by his own admission his side did not play their best football, the authority with which they bossed the game, especially in the second half, was the key maintaining their unbeaten record.

"We've never been in this position - we really don't know what to do so we're just playing it by ear all the time," Butcher. "It wasn't one of our most fluent performances. It was a gritty, hard-fought game - I'd have loved to have played in it myself. I think the ball has been taken to hospital, it is that battered and bruised. After the game I asked the boys to put their hands up if they thought they played well and not one did. I then asked them if they enjoyed the game and all they said was they enjoyed the three points. So did I, and that just about sums it up."

Butcher had called for his team to be more ruthless after they passed up numerous chances in their 2-0 defeat of Hearts before the international break and the message clearly got through.

His players continued to probe the Kilmarnock defence after taking an early lead through Richie Foran's sixth-minute opener, the Inverness captain heading home as Aaron Doran's nod back across the box caught the home defence sleeping.

Foran went close again after 28 minutes, with Kyle Jacobs just managing to clear the Irishman's header off the line. Billy McKay then lashed a wild volley over the bar with no Kilmarnock defender in sight.

Yet those opportunities would dry up in the second half, with the fervent play of a resurgent Kilmarnock forcing the normally forward-thinking Doran and James Vincent on the back foot, leaving McKay an isolated figure up front chasing a series of long balls. "The service he got in the second half was awful, but he worked his socks off," said Butcher of the Northern Ireland internationalist.

However, all Kilmarnock got out of the second half was five minutes of false hope. They scored a fortuitous equaliser six minutes into the second half, Graeme Shinnie's attempted clearance of a Rabu Ibrahim through ball crashing off the shin of the onrushing Barry Nicholson and into the net.

But just five minutes later lackadaisical defending by Allan Johnston's side allowed McKay to race on to Josh Meekings' punt up the park and dink over the stranded Craig Samson.

Johnston's search for his first win as Kilmarnock manager goes on, but this defeat was not without signs - albeit brief - of promise. On-loan forward Michael Gardyne forced Inverness keeper Dean Brill into action while Kris Boyd hit the post with a late effort. The biggest note of encouragement was the return of captain Manuel Pascali, who came on with 20 minutes to go.

Johnston, whose side have just two points after six matches, said: "In the second half I thought we played really well only to lose a soft goal after getting ourselves back into the game. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but you can't lose goals as easy as that."