DON COWIE earned Inverness a crucial victory over fellow basement battlers St Mirren then insisted his side will soon be soaring past the Buddies as revitalised Caley are now targeting a top six finish.
Cowie netted an early volley to ensure Craig Brewster's side moved to within a point of their rivals in the SPL survival race.
Will Haining was later red-carded for Saints for a late challenge on Marius Niculae but Cowie has vowed to make things worse for the Paisley side by leapfrogging them in the table.
He said: "The manager has been keen to stress to us that the most important thing is to look up, not down.
"If we'd lost to St Mirren we'd have been seven points behind them and that's never a nice gap at this stage of the season but now we're just a point from them.
"Teams like St Mirren and Falkirk are in our sights and we are looking forward. This club has been in the SPL for three years and the way forward now is to get into the top six.
"A few weeks ago that didn't seem likely and it's still in the distance but with a run of wins we could press for it."
While Cowie expects Caley to zip up the table it was the Buddies who looked like top-six contenders yesterday. Quite how Gus MacPherson's team didn't take anything out of this game is a mystery.
Their fine passing play and dominant territorial advantage would normally have been enough to win most matches.
But credit must go to a resilient and well-organised Inverness side who took their first chance clinically and held on to earn the points.
Their winning strike in six minutes came after a brilliant three-man move. Barry Wilson started it by spreading the ball out to Roy McBain who set up Cowie to fire a low half-volley wide of Chris Smith.
The Buddies had plenty of possession and half-chances in the first period but never really troubled keeper Michael Fraser.
The second half saw St Mirren lay siege to the Caley goal with Stewart Kean missing a hatful of chances to get his side back on level terms.
Hugh Murray set him up for the first with Kean turning and shooting over on 47 minutes.
Moments later Kean came even closer with his shot, this time forcing Fraser into a save.
At the other end Dennis Wyness showed superb control to bring the ball down and fire a drive straight at Smith from 15 yards.
But it was the Caley goal that was now living a charmed life and the Buddies' best chance came via the head of Inverness defender Phil McGuire in 73 minutes.
Andy Millen's deep free-kick was met by McGuire who headed off the base of his own post, looking a relieved man as the ball was booted to safety.
Kean then had his third chance to get something back for St Mirren as he broke clear of the Caley defence but this time he screwed an effort wide.
Team-mate Gary Mason was next to try his luck as he volleyed a Billy Mehmet cross just wide and the Buddies' chances of rescuing a point were killed off by Haining's red card.
The defender, who had earlier been booked for kicking the ball away, went in late on Niculae and left referee Crawford Allan with no option but to send him packing.
MATCH STATS
SHOTS ON 5
SHOTS OFF 5
OFFSIDE 0
FOULS 11
CONNERS 3
BOOKINGS 1
SHOTS ON 1
SHOTS OFF 4
OFFSIDE 2
FOULS 9
CONNERS 6
BOOKINGS 3
REF WATCH
CRAWFORD ALLAN'S display was summed up when he gave Don Cowie a yellow card before retracting it in favour of the real offender, David Proctor. Rating: 5/10
