Billy Dodds expressed his satisfaction after seeing his Caley Jags side begin their Premier Sports Cup campaign with a late 1-0 victory at League 1 Kelty Hearts.
The Championship team, who reached the Premiership play-off final in May, are looking to reach the knockouts of this League Cup competition for the first time in six years.
A trip to League 2 winners Kelty, whose last loss was in February, was never going to be an easy task in their Group G opener.
The Highlanders had the slightly better chances, although their goalkeeper Mark Ridgers was far from a spectator either.
With a penalty shoot-out just moments away, George Oakley, who rejoined the club last week, stepped off the bench to bury the winner.
Fifers were tough opponents – Dodds
ICT head coach Dodds praised his battling hosts for giving his men the test he expected, but was happy to be heading north with the ideal outcome.
He said: “The main thing we wanted was three points. I’d have loved to have won 3-0 or 4-0, but you have to give credit to Kelty.
“They are a hard-working team and you can see why they won their division last season. They have got some dangerous players. Kelty get their heads on everything and sit deep.
“But I felt we had a lot of good aspects today and I was really pleased with our performance.
“I said to the players at half-time I was a wee bit frustrated because, while we were doing things pretty well, we could do better. I wanted a wee bit more and we sorted it out in the second half.
“They had two main chances, which was mainly down to our own undoing, but as the game went on we got rock solid defensively.
“We built from the back, looked dangerous, Billy Mckay had a couple of chances and some of the players I brought to the club excited me, as well as those already here.
“We had to show patience, but I felt we deserved the win. It was a valuable three points.”
Ram debut cut short by thigh injury
Dodds also confirmed debut defender Max Ram, a summer capture from Wycombe Wanderers, will be assessed after being forced off after 15 minutes with a thigh pull.
He added: “Max felt a tight thigh in the warm-up, but we felt we would try it.
“I don’t think it’s a tear. The physio will look at it and we will see if the big man needs to go for a scan, or does it just need a few days to ease off?
“But, how good was Zach Delaney when he came on for him? We have Danny Devine and Wallace Duffy missing at the moment, so there is competition for places. No one can complain if someone comes into the team and does well.”
Inverness hit the road again on Tuesday when their cup adventure takes them to Premiership hosts Livingston, who edged past League 2 opponents Albion Rovers 3-2 after leading 3-0.
Kelty have no midweek game and will face Albion Rovers at home next Saturday.
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