Hibernian crumbled to their eighth away defeat in the Bank of Scotland Premier League this season following a first-half goal blitz by a rampant Inverness side.

Poor defending from Chris Hogg gifted the Highlanders a 20th-minute opener, as Dennis Wyness charged down the centre-half's attempted clearance before passing for Craig Dargo to supply a confident finish.

Inverness scored their second nine minutes later when Roy McBain lofted a shot over Andrew McNeil, before a terrific strike from Barry Wilson just before the break completed the rout.

Hibs were quickly into their stride and were content to keep possession by casually stroking the ball about the pitch.

But some slack defending and two moments of shaky goalkeeping by Andrew McNeil almost gifted Inverness an early lead.

Steven Whittaker was the initial culprit for the visitors in giving the ball away to John Rankin, who surged down the left wing before delivering a dangerous low cross that eluded McNeil and carried all the way through to Wilson.

The Caley Thistle midfielder quickly turned a right-footed shot towards goal from an acute angle which somehow slipped through McNeil's grasp, only for the keeper to recover and gather the ball on his goal-line.

Then, in the eighth minute, McNeil was unable to keep hold of a thumping half-volley by Wilson and when the ball broke Dargo slid in to send a close-range effort just wide of goal under pressure from Rob Jones.

Dargo then did well to prod a pass towards Rankin who took the ball into his stride, but after finding the room to fire a left-footed shot towards goal the former Ross County player could only blast a drive over.

However, the Highlanders soon took the lead when Chris Hogg's attempted clearance cannoned into Wyness and the former Hearts' player found Dargo, who supplied the coolest of finishes to beat McNeil.

Once the deadlock had been broken the second Caley Thistle goal arrived quickly afterwards, and Ross Tokely was the architect with a driving run which carried him towards the 18-yard box.

The right-back played a pass into the feet of McBain, who scored with an instinctive shot to net his second goal since the turn of the year.

Inverness were now at the top of their game and it came as no surprise when Wilson added a third courtesy of a glorious 25 yard drive, capping a terrific opening period from the Highlanders.

In the 63rd minute substitute Steven Fletcher clipped a free-kick just past the post, but the most telling fact was that with the ball drifting off target, Caley Thistle keeper Michael Fraser - starting after Mark Brown's departure to Celtic - was still to make a save.

At the other end Wyness came close to scoring a fourth goal for the Highland club, only to be denied by a well timed block from Hogg, who went some way to atoning for his earlier mistake.

Inverness then suffered a blow when Dargo was forced off with a dislocated shoulder, although on a brighter note new signing from Cowdenbeath Markus Paatelainen made his first appearance for the club, replacing Wilson late on.

The game then meandered to a close as Hibs were robbed of the opportunity to record their third victory in six days.

Teams:

Inverness CT Fraser, Tokely, Dods, Munro, Hastings,Wilson (Paatelainen 81), McBain, Duncan (Black 78), Rankin,Dargo (Bayne 70), Wyness.

Subs Not Used: Smith, McCaffrey, Soane, McAllister.

Goals: Dargo 20, McBain 30, Wilson 42.

Hibernian McNeil, Whittaker, Jones, Hogg, Murphy, Scott Brown,Stewart, Thomson (Fletcher 46), Beuzelin (Stevenson 46),Benjelloun, Campbell (Sproule 46).

Subs Not Used: Simon Brown, Glass, Martis, McCann.

Booked: Hogg, Scott Brown, Jones.

Att: 4,577

Ref: W Collum (Scotland).