No league wins in five, no goals in their last four league games and second bottom of the SPL.
On 23 minutes Flood sent in a low corner from the right which was met first time by Daly, although Reguero did well to parry the ball away, but United were having the best of it up to that point.
So it came as something of a surprise in the 32nd minute when Inverness took the lead and fairly easily at that.
Philip Roberts cut open the United defence with a pass through to Andrew Shinnie, Shinnie laid the ball off to Richie Foran and the striker was on hand to curl a superb shot into Cierzniak’s top left-hand corner.
Gavin Gunning had a header over the bar from a Flood corner two minutes later but United were stunned again shortly after when Inverness scored a second.
Roberts again was involved as he fired in a cross from the left touchline and it was Foran again who was unmarked at the back post to head home.
The visitors looked rattled and John Rankin was lucky to escape with a yellow card when he cynically clipped Andrew Shinnie’s heels in the 38th minute, while David Raven’s cross-cum-shot gave United another scare a minute later when it hit the top of the crossbar.
United boss Peter Houston had work to do at the break and he made a double substitution, with John Rankin and Michael Gardyne making way for Ryan Dow and Stuart Armstrong.
But that almost proved academic 30 seconds into the second half when Andrew Shinnie was again given space to bear down on the United back line and shoot wide of Cierzniak’s left-hand post.
Aaron Doran then screwed a shot over from Foran’s cut-back as Thistle threatened again, but Reguero was called into action at the other end in 52 minutes to tip over a Daly header.
Flood’s foul on Shinnie 20 yards out gave Thistle another chance on the hour mark but Gavin Morrison blasted the free-kick over the bar.
With 25 minutes remaining, there was some encouragement for the travelling support as Keith Watson found space by beating Roberts in midfield before sending a good drive just off target.
But any hope they had disappeared 20 minutes from time when Andrew Shinnie took advantage of a defensive mix-up to net Inverness’ third from close range.
Just seconds after sub Mark Millar was booked, Inverness made it 4-0.
United again failed to clear their lines properly and the ball fell to Roberts who sent a blistering shot into Cierzniak’s top left-hand corner from the angle of the box.
Gary Warren was the last player in the referee’s notebook four minutes from the end for a foul on Russell, but by that point a large number of the United fans had already headed for the exits.
”If there’s a self destruct button to hit, we certainly know how to hit them because I felt the first half hour we were the team that were in the ascendancy,” said Houston.
”We looked dangerous going forward and we lose a good goal from Richie Foran, but the pass from Dillon was cut out and we didn’t get out of the bit from there.”
Attendance: 3,059
Inverness CT: Reguero, Raven, G Shinnie, Warren, Draper, Foran (Oswell 84), A. Shinnie (Pepper 80), Meekings, Doran, Morrison, Roberts (McKay 87). Subs not used: McKay, Polworth, Brislen-Hall, Cooper.
Dundee United: Cierzniak, Dillon, McLean, Gunning, Flood, Russell, Rankin (Armstrong 45), Daly, Ryan (Millar 62), Watson, Gardyne (Dow 45). Subs not used: Vignal, Hilson, Gauld, Banks (GK).
Referee: Stephen Finnie.
That’s the scenario Dundee United are faced with after Saturday’s horror show up at Inverness, but defender Sean Dillon insists the Tangerines are ready to dig deep and show the resolve that is needed to get out of their slump.
No-one would have foreseen the final scoreline after watching United dominate the opening half hour at the weekend but the record books will show that Inverness were well worth their 4-0 win in the end.
”It’s a tough one to take for us, for myself, the manager, the staff, the fans that came up and the fans that didn’t come up,” Dillon said.
”We just need to get ourselves sorted and get out of this small rut and make sure that we minimise it as much as we can.
”I’d like to think it’s a temporary blip because it’s been a bad one.
”We’ve lost seven goals in two games and even before that, even though we kept a couple of clean sheets, we weren’t getting the win.
”But we need to stay positive and get our heads around getting out of it as soon as possible.”
The home side suffered a blow before kick-off as keeper Ryan Esson injured his groin in the warm-up, with former Real Madrid youth Antonio Reguero having to debut between the sticks.
United showed attacking intent within 22 seconds as Johnny Russell sent a curling shot just off target, before Jon Daly fired over from Russell’s cut back four minutes later.
After Caley’s Gavin Morrison became the first player to be booked in nine minutes for a rash challenge on Willo Flood, Russell again posed a threat a minute later, seeing an initial shot blocked before rifling the rebound into the side netting.
The hosts slowly began to get a foothold in the game though and had their first chance in 16 minutes when Andrew Shinnie was allowed to descend on the United defence and fire a low left-foot shot straight at Rado Cierzniak.
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