Richard Gough's Livingston took a giant stride towards safety in the Bank of Scotland Premier League with a well-deserved single-goal victory over Inverness.

Jason Dair struck with a fine header in the first half to give the West Lothian men the lead and, while Caley's Bryan Prunty and Graham Bayne missed gilt-edged chances, the three points gained were fully merited.

The Jags have little to play for and it showed in their lacklustre performance, which was in direct contrast to Livi who appear to be winning their battle for survival.

Caley made most of the early running and had two excellent dead ball opportunities in the opening four minutes. Vincze's handball gave Barry Wilson the chance to test Roddy McKenzie from 25 yards out and the goalkeeper did well to pluck his curling effort away from the top corner.

Wilson was given another chance to go for goal when Manu Dorado chopped Stuart Golabek down on the edge of the area. McKenzie had no chance this time, but the Lions' goal was untroubled as the ball spun past the post.

Livi created very little throughout the opening stages, but almost grabbed the lead with a fine Derek Lilley header. The ex-Leeds and Dundee United man met Burton O'Brien's corner and looped the ball over Mark Brown's head.

Luckily for the Jags youngster Ian Black was on the line and managed to head clear. They went up to the other end and should have opened the scoring through Prunty.

He was played through one-on-one by Bayne, whose neat flick caught the Livi defence square, but his strike partner panicked and spooned the ball over from six yards out.

That miss proved costly because Livi strode upfield and grabbed the lead against the run of play. Kachloul had been largely anonymous but sparked into life in the 29th minute and his undoubted class shone through as he made space on the left before whipping a cross right onto Dair's head.

The ex-Dunfermline man took advantage of some slovenly defending from the home side to nod the ball across Brown's body into the far corner.

Prunty almost atoned for his horror miss in the 33rd minute by lashing a snapshot towards the top corner, but his effort missed the target by a matter of inches.

With virtually nothing to play for Brewster decided to take off Wilson, who aggravated a back injury early in the game, and replaced him with Ritchie Hart with eight minutes of the first half remaining.

Livi came within inches of doubling their lead only a minute into the second half. O'Brien showed real doggedness to catch the ball on the left byline and whip a cross into the six-yard box. It made its way through to Lilley, who was standing no more than a yard away from the goal-line, but it took him by surprise and he could only swing at it.

Brown had come rushing along his line and did well to tip over the bar.

It was McKenzie's turn to show his skills next and he did so with aplomb, gathering Russell Duncan's blistering 25-yard shot.

Goal hero Dair put in a lot of hard work and had little petrol left in the tank by the time an hour had elapsed, so Gough made his first change by bringing on Craig Easton.

Brewster followed suit and made a double change three minutes later. On came youngster Rory McAllister and Richard Hastings for Roy McBain and Prunty.

They should have pulled level in the 70th minute, but Bayne could only scuff Tokely's low cross into McKenzie's path.

Gough decided to go defensive by switching Kachloul for centre-back Greg Strong in the 73rd minute.

Caley were left screaming for a penalty five minutes later when Bahoken appeared to stop Bayne's shot with his hand. Referee Brian Winter took a moment to reflect on the incident but was unswayed by the Jags' frantic appeals.

The Lions managed to play down the remaining minutes to a potentially priceless three points and, as the small band of visiting fans banged their trademark drums in celebration, Gough's players proved the club's heartbeat is strengthening.

Teams

Inverness CT Brown, Tokely, Dods, Munro, Golabek, Wilson (Hart 38), Duncan, Black, McBain (Hastings 64), Prunty (McAllister 64), Bayne.

Subs Not Used: Fraser, Proctor, Fox, Fatai.

Booked: Wilson, McAllister.

Livingston McKenzie, McNamee, Dorado, Deloumeaux, Bahoken, Dair (Easton 61), Vincze, O'Brien, McMenamin, Lilley, Kachloul (Strong 73).

Subs Not Used: Meldrum, Brittain, Horvath, Snodgrass, Dorrans.

Booked: Bahoken, Kachloul.

Goals: Dair 29.

Att: 3,021

Ref: B Winter (Scotland).