Inverness: John Hughes impressed by stylish Fir park win

Inverness players celebrate Tansey's opener at Fir park

Manager John Hughes was purring contentedly after a comfortable 2-0 win at Fir Park took Inverness to the top of the Scottish Premiership.

The Highlanders have yet to concede a goal on their way to seven points from a possible nine.

And they comprehensively outplayed Motherwell, last season's runners-up.

"The first half performance was very good," said Hughes. "We were slick with our ball retention and had total domination."

Motherwell were chasing shadows for long spells as Caley Thistle controlled possession from the off with neat, one-touch passing.

"The only frustration is that we had a few chances to score," added Hughes.

"But we got our wee break just before half-time and that settled us down."

Greg Tansey drove in a great strike from 20 yards to break the deadlock but the visitors had to wait until the closing moments for Aaron Doran to knock in an equally impressive second goal.

"No two halves are ever the same and we knew Motherwell would change their shape and come at us," explained Hughes.

"We just had to be a bit more compact and play more on the counter. And we can do that because we work at it. It doesn't just happen.

"There is still a lot to do. For instance, I thought our crossing was very poor.

"But I can't speak highly enough of these boys. I've had a great buy-in to the way we want to go about our business.

"And I know it all goes for nothing if you're not winning. We played just as well in the second half at Motherwell last season and lost 2-0."

Hughes spoke glowingly of his substitutes, which included Doran, but only had six men on the bench and expressed a desire to recruit "one or two more".

He said: "Liam Polworth came on and killed the game for us, a beautiful footballer. Nick Ross came on; technically one of the best players at the club.

"We've got plenty there but I'd still say we have a small squad.

"But we'll work with what we've got and tell them, 'this could be the time of your life, enjoy it'.