A well-taken brace from Austin Samuels helped Caley Thistle to a 4-1 win over Cove Rangers at the Caledonian Stadium.
He opened the scoring for the Caley Jags in the first half before Aaron Doran doubled their advantage.
Robbie Leitch pulled a goal back for Cove at the start of the second half but Samuels finished again from close-range and Nathan Shaw added a fourth to seal the points.
The win lifts Billy Dodds’ side up to second in the Championship, while Cove sit in eighth.
Inverness made five changes from the draw with Arbroath a week ago, with Danny Devine, Wallace Duffy, David Carson, Shaw and George Oakley all dropping out. In came Robbie Deas, Zak Delaney, Lewis Hyde, Doran and Austin Samuels.
Cove handed a debut to new signing Cieran Dunne, with Evan Towler absent, while Morgyn Neill came into the side for Iain Vigurs and Leitch replaced Leighton McIntosh.
The home side were chasing their first win of the season and started brightly. Deas played through Cameron Harper and his shot across goal was well saved by Kyle Gourlay.
But the warning was not heeded by Cove and Doran’s ball carved them open, enabling Samuels to split the three-man defence and calmly lift the ball over the goalkeeper.
Gourlay was required again on 13 minutes as Billy Mckay’s turn and shot forced the stopper to spring to his right and keep the ball out. Doran was next to take aim and Gourlay was again called upon to deny Inverness.
Doran was not to be denied though and emerged through a crowd of players to direct Daniel MacKay’s shot into the net on 31 minutes. Had Mckay been able to keep his feet, he could well have made it 3-0 before the break.
Cove were poor in the first period and provided little opposition, with their only chance coming after Delaney threatened to head past his own goalkeeper.
Whatever manager Jim McIntyre said to them at half-time clearly worked, as they pulled a goal back within two minutes. Fraser Fyvie’s ball over the top was latched on to by Megginson and while his shot was saved by the feet of Ridgers, Leitch was able to turn home the rebound.
The visitors were a much more enterprising outfit in the second half, which came after changing from a back three to a four. The man who came on at half-time – Vigurs – finished off a neat move but Ridgers clung on at this near post.
Inverness did restore their two-goal lead though with 15 minutes to go, with Mckay’s ball across the face of goal turned in by Samuels.
Samuels was denied his hat-trick by Gourlay in stoppage-time but substitute Shaw was on hand to roll the ball into an unguarded net.
CALEY THISTLE (4-2-3-1) – Ridgers 6; Hyde 6, Delaney 6, Deas 6, Harper 6, MacGregor 6, Allardice 7, Samuels 7, Doran 7 (Shaw 82), MacKay 6 (Boyd 78), Mckay 6 (Oakley 88). Subs not used – Mackay, Nicolson.
COVE RANGERS (3-4-3) – Gourlay 6; Ross 5, Neill 5 (Vigurs 46), Reynolds 5, Logan 6, Fyvie 6 (McDonagh 79), Scully 6, Dunne 7, Leitch 6 (McIntosh 79), Megginson 6, Masson 6 (Longstaff 69). Subs not used – McKenzie, Thomas.
Referee – Greg Aitken 5.
Attendance – 2,106.
Man of the match – Austin Samuels.