Caley Thistle eased into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup thanks to a comfortable 6-1 replay victory over League 2 side Edinburgh City.
Jordan White’s hat-trick, a double from Tom Walsh and a late strike from Aaron Doran provided John Robertson’s men with the comfortable evening they craved, after City attacker Blair Henderson had briefly restored parity early on.
Inverness will face Lowland League side East Kilbride in the fourth round, with the tie taking place on the weekend of January 19/20.
Caley Jags made two changes from the side which went down 3-2 against Falkirk on Saturday to end their run of 25 league matches without defeat, with Sean Welsh and George Oakley dropping out for Charlie Trafford and Jordan White.
Inverness made the perfect start, taking the lead after just five minutes when Aaron Doran lifted the ball through for Walsh, who beat Liam Henderson to the ball before sending a low drive past Callum Antell.
The lead lasted just two minutes however, with the Citizens’ leading scorer Henderson restoring parity with a side-footed finish on the first time volley from Graham Taylor’s delivery.
Inverness regained the lead on the quarter-hour mark however, with White rising to guide Liam Polworth’s free kick past Antell from close range.
The Highlanders went in search of a third goal before the break, with Walsh seeing a lofted effort land on the roof of the net.
It was the winger who gave Inverness the two-goal cushion on 53 minutes however, as he latched on to Polworth’s lay-off before angling a low drive into Antell’s bottom-left corner.
White made sure of Inverness’ progression with two goals in the space of just over a minute, with a drilled finish from Shaun Rooney’s delivery going through the legs of Antell, before he sealed his hat-trick with a header from Polworth’s corner.
Inverness completed the scoring in the dying minutes when Doran drilled home after being set up by impressive
young substitute Roddy MacGregor.