Dundee’s long, long wait for a win over Inverness is at an end after this narrow 2-1 victory at Dens.
Prior to this match, Caley were unbeaten against the Dark Blues in their last 16 encounters.
However, that run was finally halted thanks to goals from man-of-the-match Craig Wighton and Kosta Gadzhalov with the victory taking Dundee off the bottom of the Premiership and remarkably up to seventh in the table.
Dundee boss Paul Hartley stuck by the same 11 that started against Rangers at Ibrox last week.
Honours were fairly even in the first quarter of the game with both sides struggling to carve out clear-cut chances.
Indeed, it was mostly a war of attrition with a succession of free-kicks and wasteful passes disrupting any flow of play.
The home side finally had a chance in the 21st minute when Cammy Kerr dug out a cross from the right into the Caley box with striker Marcus Haber directing his header just wide.
However, the deadlock was finally broken in the 25th minute when Wighton controlled a pass from Tom Hateley, spun and then advanced into the Inverness box before calmly curling a shot low past Caley keeper Owain Fon-Williams and into the corner of the net.
Shortly after, Wighton went down under a challenge in the Inverness box with his team-mates shouting for a penalty but referee Andrew Dallas was not convinced.
Caley huffed and puffed looking for an equaliser but Dundee held on to their lead as the teams headed down the tunnel at half-time.
The Dark Blues came close to doubling their advantage in the 54th minute when a Paul McGowan 20-yard shot flew just wide of the goal.
However, Dundee did finally give themselves a two-goal cushion in the 60th minute. Tom Hateley sent a free-kick in from the wide right with centre-half Gadzhalov rising highest to bullet a header past Fon-Wliiams.
The home side then had a big scare of their own when a header from Caley’s Losana Doumbouya had to be cleared off his own line by McGowan.
Inverness did pull one back in the 81st minute when Lewis Horner sent a cross into the Dundee box with Carl Tremarco heading past home keeper Scott Bain to make it a fraught finish for Hartley’s men.
However, they held on to secure a priceless three points with Inverness being reduced to 10 men deep in stoppage time when Horner was given a straight red for pulling back Wighton as he raced through on goal.
For full report, reaction and analysis, see Monday’s Courier.
