Inverness Caledonian Thistle took a massive step away from the Bank of Scotland Premier League relegation zone with a 4-1 victory over bottom-side Livingston.

Goals from Richie Hart, Russell Duncan, Graham Bayne and Juanjo secured an emphatic win despite Ferenc Horvath's first goal for Livingston.

The game provided Inverness with the chance to exorcise some demons from the first day of the season when they were handed a 3-0 defeat at Almondvale.

Meanwhile, Livingston's downward spiral cost manager Allan Preston his job and Rangers legend Richard Gough was the man handed the task of trying to lift Livi off the bottom of the table.

Gough has recruited three Hungarians until the end of the season in the hope they could play a part in Livingston's fight for survival and Horvath, Attila Kriston, Gabor Vincze were all handed their first starts.

But it was the visitors who were out of the blocks quickly with the opener arriving on eight minutes.

Stuart McCaffrey spotted Hart unmarked in the six-yard box and picked him out with the cross. All that was required from Hart was to nod over goalkeeper Colin Meldrum to hand Inverness the lead.

Livingston had a decent chance to level when Kriston played the ball to Jim Hamilton on the edge of the box but the Hungarian misread the one-two with Hamilton and the chance was lost.

Horvath was denied the equaliser by the woodwork 10 minutes before the interval. A long ball from Jamie Hand was met by Hamilton and he produced a delightful back-heel to set up Horvath for the shot, but the Hungarian's shot smacked off the angle between post and crossbar.

Instead it was Inverness who doubled their lead on 39 minutes. Player-boss Craig Brewster set up Bayne for the shot and Meldrum raced off his line to block but the goalkeeper spilled the ball and Duncan reacted quickly to fire home the rebound.

Livingston pulled a goal back after 43 minutes. Hand provided the cross and Horvath grabbed his first goal for Livingston when he sent a looping back-post header into the net.

Horvath then played a part in helping Inverness increase their lead five minutes after the restart when he sliced the ball dangerously close to his own goal and Bayne pounced to fire past Meldrum.

Livi could have made amends quickly when Darren Dods was booked for hauling down Burton O'Brien on the edge of the box and Hand stepped up for the resultant free-kick, but on-loan Watford player wasted the set-piece and the opportunity was lost.

Any hope Livingston had of taking anything from the game was killed off after 73 minutes when Inverness grabbed goal number four.

The unmarked Juanjo picked up a long ball in the box and calmly stroked the ball into the bottom corner to ensure three points for the Highlanders.

On-loan Rangers player Bajram Fetai was thrown into the action for the final 15 minutes of the game and that meant Bayne's work was done for the day after he had contributed to an emphatic win.

Teams

Livingston Meldrum, Hand, Dorado, Bahoken, Stanic (Snodgrass 45), Kriston, Vincze, Lovell, O'Brien, Hamilton (Lilley 69), Horvath.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Brittain, Harding, Easton, Adam.

Booked: Bahoken, Vincze.

Goals: Horvath 43.

Inverness CT Brown, Golabek, Dods, McCaffrey, Wilson, Bayne (Fatai 76), Hart, Juanjo (Prunty 85), Duncan, Munro, Brewster.

Subs Not Used: Fraser, McBain, Hastings, Proctor, Fox.

Booked: Dods.

Goals: Hart 8, Duncan 39, Bayne 50, Juanjo 73.

Att: 4,106

Ref: E Smith (Scotland).