Inverness won their fourth successive match since the split in the Bank of Scotland Premier League, as the Highlanders defeated Falkirk thanks to goals from Russell Duncan and Craig Dargo.

Duncan opened the scoring thanks to a long-distance drive, before Dargo netted his 20th goal of the season when he latched on to Darren Dods' flick from Alan Morgan's corner.

The Bairns were without manager John Hughes, who suffered a family bereavement, and were led by assistant Brian Rice.

Vitor Lima came close to scoring for the visitors with a clipped first-half effort which drifted just wide.

Caley Thistle boss Charlie Christie lived up to his pre-match promise of freshening up his side and reserve goalkeeper Michael Fraser was handed a rare start, which brought an end to Mark Brown's run of 176 consecutive appearances.

The 22-year-old had the added pressure of maintaining Inverness's recent run of three clean sheets in a row, but made a confident start to the game in saving a fourth-minute Daniel McBreen effort from the edge of the penalty area.

The Caley keeper then had to watch anxiously as an imaginative shot from Lima drifted just wide, before Falkirk received a blow when Kenny Milne had to be replaced due to a knee injury.

Craig McPherson came on for the defender, but only two minutes after the substitute's introduction, the home side took the lead courtesy of Duncan.

The midfielder confidently strode on to a loose ball 25 yards from goal and with his right-foot dispatched a powerful drive past the helpless Falkirk goalkeeper Mark Howard.

The visitors looked to respond via a neat turn and shot from McBreen, but once again Fraser was up to the task, making a good save to thwart the Bairns' attacker.

However, four minutes later, the away side then fell two behind their Highland opponents when Falkirk's defence was undone by a routine Inverness set piece.

Morgan's outswinging corner was headed on by Dods and Dargo was on hand to thump the ball past Howard from 10 yards.

With Inverness then content to subdue their opponents by playing possession football, the visitors enjoyed little success in attack, with three Liam Craig shots from distance all the Bairns could create.

With 26 minutes still remaining, Rory McAllister replaced goalscorer Dargo and the substitute was presented with a chance to make an impact almost immediately after coming on.

However, McAllister could not connect with Ross Tokely's knockdown and the opportunity was lost almost as soon as it arrived.

Tokely should have done better after connecting with an inswinging Duncan free-kick in the 80th minute, but the right-back sent his disappointing header over the bar after leaping to win the ball in a congested goal area.

Eager to celebrate agreeing a new two-year-deal in fine fashion, Tokely was desperate to score and almost achieved that feat in injury time, but saw his header cleared off the line by Jack Ross, as Caley had to be content with a two-goal winning margin.

Teams

Inverness CT Fraser, Tokely, Dods, McCaffrey, Golabek,Sutherland, Duncan, Keogh, Morgan (Soane 83),Dargo (McAllister 64), Wyness (Bayne 69).

Subs Not Used: Brown, McBain, Wilson, Fox.

Goals: Duncan 18, Dargo 30.

Falkirk Howard, Scobie, Dodds, Rodrigues (Moutinho 52), Ross,Craig (Scally 52), Lima, O'Donnell, Milne (McPherson 16), Gow,McBreen.

Subs Not Used: Ferguson, Lawrie, Churchill, Barr.

Booked: Scobie.

Att: 3,121

Ref: E Smith (Scotland).